


Starlight

by loonachos



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Cyberpunk, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-06-29 05:52:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 52,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19823881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonachos/pseuds/loonachos
Summary: 3 sisters. 3 mercenaries. 3 bounties on their heads. A loona triplet line cyberpunk au.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a twitter interactive au over at @loonachoz for those who want to participate in the votings.

“All of these high tech weapons and you come in with a sword to a gunfight?” A tall bulky man questioned with a smirk. He had the top of his rifle resting on his right shoulder, not viewing the enemy as a threat.

“You obviously know nothing about Final Fantasy.” The woman had on her own smirk as she raised the sword, the tip pointed at the man before firing.

The smug look on the man was swept off his face immediately as he stumbled back in surprise and fell to his knees.

“I hate when people underestimate me,” the woman’s tone showed no emotion as she approached. She raised the sword up high and then swiftly brought it down.

“Are you done showing off your new toy, Hyunjin?” A bored voice from behind could be heard. The newcomer didn’t even flinch when the body hit the floor with a loud thud.

Hyunjin turned around to see her youngest sister, Hyejoo, standing there with no weapons but her mechanical left arm. “At least I have one. What the hell happened to yours?” She bent down besides the dead man, reached behind to the side of his neck to eject a flash drive.

The slightly taller girl shrugged. “Some dude was firing acid. Who does that?” She gave off an annoyed look. “Melted one of my favorite guns. You don’t want to see the result of what happened to that guy.”

Hyunjin was about to make a comment when shots from downstairs averted their attention. They both gave each other a look before rushing out of the room.

“Hey,” Hyunjin called out to her sister.

Hyejoo turned to see a pistol getting tossed to her as she caught it thankfully.

Both women made it to the bottom and didn’t waste any time firing. They worked as a unit with Hyunjin leading and Hyejoo covering her from behind.

The place was a mess with tables turned and bullet holes everywhere. It was hard to see everything with all the chaos, but Hyejoo was able to make out a skinny tatted woman behind a torn up counter to the left up ahead. She didn’t have time to call out to Hyunjin, so she sprinted forward and shielded her sister from incoming shots, knocking them both to the ground.

Hyunjin scrambled to her feet and dragged Hyejoo behind some coverage. “Are you okay?” She asked frantically, checking her sister over for injuries as bullets whizzed by them.

“Shit!” Hyejoo growled out. “I just got this damn arm fixed.” She raised up her left arm to see a bullet lodged into the bicep area.

Hyunjin sighed in relief before sticking her gunblade out and fired aimlessly. When shots stopped hitting in their direction, she got out of their hiding spot and aimed at the woman that shot her sister. Before she could get to the enemy though, another shot came out of nowhere, hitting the tatted woman in the side of the head, killing her instantly.

Silence fell over the room for a short moment.

“Where the hell were you guys?” A purple haired girl asked as she approached the two. “I couldn’t get through to tell you that they sent back up.”

“Something in the building is jamming our signal.” Hyunjin reached a hand out for Hyejoo to take as she pulled her up to her feet. “I hope you hid the car well, Yerim.”

“The car is fine.” The middle sister waved her off before frowning at Hyejoo’s arm. “Chaewon’s going to be so annoyed with you.”

They drove off until they came to an alley they often frequented.

“You guys know the drill.” Hyunjin got out of the backseat and went over to lean down at the driver’s side. “If I’m not out in 10, come get me.”

Yerim had her hands hanging loosely on the steering wheel. “Be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“You’re always somehow recklessly careful,” Hyejoo commented from the passenger seat.

“But it gets the job done doesn’t it?” Hyunjin knocked the roof of the car twice to signal that she was ready to head off and did a little salute to her sisters before walking off into an alley.

It was a usual night in the city with people filling the streets. Loud music could be heard from different establishments and neon lights were blinding down, making the world look like watercolor against the wet ground. 

Hyunjin tapped the side of her temple to turn off all the music and advertisements around her to focus on her mission. She was usually fine with all the noise that distracted her mind from unwanted thoughts, but now wasn’t the time to be careless.

The neon lights also became dull with the touch of her finger until she reached where she needed to be. The sign above the closed bar was the only thing that stuck out like a sore thumb now with its bright green lights indicating that she has reached her destination.

Hyunjin rang the bell from the back entrance and waited. 

“What do you want?” A voice could be heard from the side.

Hyunjin looked up to see a newly installed camera next to the bell and moved to stand in front of it to show her face. A few seconds later, the multiple locking mechanism on the door opened up as she let herself in.

“You got the shard?” The same voice asked at a seat in the back of the bar.

“Only reason why I’m here.” Hyunjin lifted the flash drive up in her hand before walking over and placing it on the table where a tall skinny man in a suit sat.

“Search her,” the man commanded while examining the product. He had two other men standing by the table, acting as guards. They approached, patting her down quickly, and then gave a nod to their boss. “Sit.”

“I just want my payment to be on my way.” Hyunjin held out her right wrist.

“Always in a rush.” The man let out a small laugh. He reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a card and swiped it onto her wrist to confirm the transaction. “It’s always nice doing business with you, but we should sit down for a drink sometimes.”

“Yeah, maybe another day, Danny.” The woman did her usual salute with two fingers up to her forehead and walked out of the bar. 

Hyunjin pulled the collar of her jacket up and shoved her hands into her pockets as she stepped out into the cold. She was half way down the alley when she thought she heard something off about her footsteps. It was as if someone was walking the same speed as her to mask their steps, but Hyunjin was too trained to not notice it. She kept her pace, not wanting to alert whoever was following her that she had knowledge of their presence. All of her weapons were in the car, having to leave them behind to enter the bar. 

Hyunjin casually brushed her hair over her shoulder and stealthy tapped behind her left ear to open her line of communication with her sisters. She didn’t say a word as she kept on walking. Voices from the other line could be heard, but they quickly caught on to why she wasn’t talking.

“There were patrols, so we had to circle around the block,” Yerim spoke through the line. “We’re coming to your location in 10 seconds.”

Hyunjin didn’t think she had 10, maybe only 7 seconds at this point. The closer she got to the entrance of the alley, the more it sounded like the person tailing her was skipping steps. She’d only hear the echo with every other step now as they came forward. And right as she was about to exit the alley, a hold behind her neck yanked her back into the dark. She did a back roll to loosen the grip and ran for the approaching car up ahead. Whatever had grabbed her tried again, but she dodged out of the way as a mechanical claw nicked the side of her face from behind.

Hyejoo was already out of the car before it stopped and threw out a pistol that transformed into Hyunjin’s gunblade midair as she dove for the weapon. Right as Hyunjin got a hold of it, she turned around to block another incoming attack, but was knocked to the ground from the impact and onto her back. Her sword took the hit of another blade that came down onto her. She kicked the enemy as hard as she could and jumped back up to come face to face with her attacker, or face to chest anyways as Hyunjin looked up at a tall slender man like figure that was androgyous in appearance. Its whole self was polished white with black joints.

The attacker stood there before backing off when Hyejoo fired nonstop with a rifle that almost looked too big for her to carry. The enemy moved swiftly, blocking every hit with two blades that came out of its forearms. It attacked first, but for some reason went into defense mode as its body coiled into a ball and rolled away before taking on its slick white and black human form again to scale the building.

“What the hell was that?” Hyejoo still had her gun up as Hyunjin headed for the car. “Was that a full on android?”

“Don’t know.” Hyunjin clicked the side her gunblade to turn it back into a pistol and placed it into her holster. She got into the backseat again and Hyejoo in the passenger’s.

“Are you okay?” Yerim was already driving off as she looked at her sister through the rear view mirror.

“I can’t tell.” Hyunjin felt a little off, but it might just be from being winded.

Hyejoo turned around in her seat. “Did you take your second dose today?”

Hyunjin tried to think, but her mind was foggy. “Yeah, pretty sure I took it.”

“Pretty sure or did you take it?” Hyejoo questioned again.

The oldest sibling shook her head. “I can’t remember.”

“You always remember.” Hyejoo turned to Yerim. “Take us to Doc.” She reached into her jacket pocket to pull out an inhaler and threw it back to Hyunjin who took it with a small thanks.

“What about Chaewon?” Yerim asked.

“We have to get Chae.” Hyunjin reached up to her face where she was cut and wiped the blood off with the back of her hand.

“That android’s weapon was probably poisoned,” Hyejoo pointed out already knowing both her sisters were thinking the same thing by now. “Do you think you could hang on?” She turned around in her seat again.

“Yeah.” Hyunjin was feeling dizzy, but getting to their friend was her first priority.

Yerim drove as fast as she could without raising attention to their car.

Hyejoo tapped behind her ear to call Chaewon. “Are you done? Well, step it up, you got 4 minutes left.”

They got into the area shortly with their friend being easy to spot with her wavy blonde hair and black dress that looked a bit too cold for this weather.

Yerim stopped the car at the side of the street next to bustling clubs as Chaewon got into the back seat.

“What’s the rush?” The blonde used her hand to comb through her hair and took the jacket Hyunjin handed to her thankfully. She did a double take, frowning at the cut on the taller woman’s face and placed a hand under Hyunjin’s chin to get her friend to look at her. “Poison,” she stated.

“Some full on android or something attacked outside of Danny’s,” Hyejoo explained. “Not sure if it was one of his guys or not.”

“I doubt it. Danny wouldn’t pull something like this and even if he did, he wouldn’t do it so close to his bar. He cares way too much about that damn bar.” Hyunjin winced when Chaewon took out a handkerchief to dab at the already drying blood.

Chaewon opened a water bottle from the back and poured some out on the cloth. “There’s black coming from it. Stay still so I could wipe it off.”

“Just gave Doc a call. She’s not in right now. Says she’s at some home visit appointment.” Hyejoo tapped the back of her ear to turn off communications again.

“We could always go to Xuan Yi,” Yerim suggested.

Hyejoo gave her a look. “Doc’s not gonna like that.”

“She’ll understand.” Yerim looked through her side mirror for cars before changing lanes to the left to make a u-turn.

Hospitals asked questions and going to legal tinkers that fixed and upgraded cyberware tracked money transactions unless using prepaid cards that they didn’t have. Plus they weren’t particularly friendly with the police that often patrolled the places. With a job like being a mercenary got them a bad rep with the law. Black markets called shadows was where they did most of their business, but competition down there is tough since many are forced to shut down once exposed.

Yerim stopped the car across the street from a tattoo shop. 

The night got colder as they all zipped up their jackets and walked towards the shop with clear windows. 

“What are you guys doing here?” A tall woman with long dark hair questioned as they entered.

“The sign says open,” Hyejoo said in a smartass tone.

“Yeah, open to customers. I don’t remember you guys as friendly faces here.” The woman crossed her arms as guns came out of the ceiling and aimed at the group.

The customers in the tattoo shop didn’t even flinch being used to crime in the city and probably not wanting their permanent ink messed up.

Hyunjin raised her arms up in defense and stood in front of everyone. “Hey, whoa, chill Cheng Xiao, we’re just here for an easy fix.”

Cheng Xiao scoffed. “That cut on your face? Looks like it’s getting nasty. Your doctor not in?”

“Look, we’re not here for trouble. We have credits.” Hyunjin pointed at her wrist where money transactions were made.

The other woman stared at each of them before tapping behind her ear. “Are we doing business with the Triplets?” She paused and glanced at Chaewon. “And their little blonde friend.” Cheng Xiao tapped the communications again and nodded to the door in the back. “Only two at a time.”

Most illegal tinkers didn’t like a group of people coming into their business for security measures so it wasn’t unusual that they couldn’t all go in at the same time.

Yerim lightly pulled on Hyejoo’s arm. “We’ll wait here.” She knew that Hyejoo going in with a busted mechanical arm would most likely raise attention and having to deal with a talkative tinker persuading to fix it was not something they wanted right now.


	2. DOC

“Fancy seeing you guys here.” A woman with glasses greeted them in the back room as they entered.

“Long time since I’ve seen someone wearing glasses,” Hyunjin commented, ignoring the welcome.

The woman, Xuan Yi, gave out a small laugh. “They look nice don’t they? They’re just for fashion purposes.” She looked Hyunjin up and down. “Something you wouldn’t know.” 

Hyunjin’s outfit consisted of a loose black t-shirt, black skinny jeans, a black leather jacket, and black boots to top it off. 

“Black goes with black, what could I say?” Hyunjin was finding it hard to get words out with how her mind kept going blank, but she didn’t want to seem weak in front of someone she wasn’t too fond of.

“Sit.” Xuan Yi pointed at a reclining chair and then turned to Chaewon. “Did you need a fix or upgrade too or are you just here to make sure I don’t do anything funny to your friend?”

Chaewon walked over to where Hyunjin sat, staying by her side. “Making sure you don’t do anything funny to my friend,” she repeated back the second part with a straight face.

Xuan Yi let out another amused laugh. “Very well then.” 

The woman washed her hands in the sink before putting on vinyl gloves, sat down on a stool and rolled it over to where Hyunjin sat. “Rest your head back.” She used her feet to recline the chair a little. “Quick fix. Just going to inject you with something that will clean out that nasty poison. Good thing it looks like only a shallow cut.” Xuan Yi picked up a syringe from a metal tray and then stabbed the needle in Hyunjin’s arm, not caring that she wasn’t gentle with it. She then picked up a small laser pen to close up the cut that took less than a minute. “All done.”

Hyunjin sat up before the chair could adjust itself back and reached up to touch her face where the wound was just at. Most tinkers would have handed her a mirror to see the end result, but this one purposely had bad service.

Xuan Yi took off the gloves and walked over to the trash can to dispose of them. “Credits,” she demanded right away while pressing on parts of her wrist.

Within seconds, Hyunjin’s wrist glowed a green number of the cost indicating a confirmation for the transaction. “Done.”

“Great doing business with you. Hope to never see you here again.” Xuan Yi smiled and held the door open for them.

“Thanks. Hope to never have to come back here again too.” Hyunjin nodded for Chaewon to go out first before following behind.

“We have a new shipment that just came in.” They heard Cheng Xiao say as they came out of the back room.

“What she’s on about now?” Hyunjin asked her sisters who were seated on some waiting chairs.

Hyejoo stood up seeing that they were done. “First she wanted to shoot us and now she’s trying to convince me to get my arm fixed here.” 

“That was before Xuan Yi said it was okay to do business with you guys, but since you’re already here, we got top of the line products.” Cheng Xiao nodded to the back room.

Hyejoo looked over at Hyunjin’s face to see that the cut had closed up nicely.

Hyejoo shook her head. “I’ve never gotten a mod from you guys and I’m not about to start now.”

“Expected answer.” Cheng Xiao crossed her arms and pointed at the ceiling where guns had come out from earlier. “Well, are you leaving or did you want to get shot?”

“I’ll make sure to leave a great review for this place,” Hyunjin said sarcastically before motioning to her team to go out of the tattoo shop.

“Doc says she’ll be there in about half an hour,” Yerim informed as she unlocked the car and everyone got back in.

Chaewon exhaled loudly. “The amount of times you have to fix that arm of yours.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault, okay?” Hyejoo turned around in her seat. “Either that or Hyunjin would have had a bullet lodged somewhere in her instead.”

“Tough gig?” Chaewon winced thinking about if one of them actually got seriously hurt.

“It wasn’t bad. What about your’s?” Hyunjin looked over at the small blonde who was shivering even with a jacket on over her dress before taking off her own jacket and covering Chaewon’s legs with it.

Chaewon looked up with a soft smile, but before she could answer, shots were fired at the car as she pulled Hyunjin down with her to cover their heads.

“What the hell?” Yerim swerved the car to the next lane and looked in the rear view mirror at an all black car with tinted windows. “Hang on guys.” She quickly turned the steering wheel to the right, drifting the vehicle into a different street.

Hyejoo looked back to see the other car still on them. “What’s up with the constant ambushes tonight? Are we being tracked or what?”

Hyunjin frowned at the speculation and reached behind her neck where the android from earlier had grabbed her. She pulled back her hand to reveal a tiny wire. “Shit.” Hyunjin rolled down the window and tossed the bug out. “The thing that attacked me at Danny’s left a tracker. I should have known with the way it just ran off randomly.”

“Did the cars just multiply?” Yerim asked seeing two cars behind theirs to the left and right that were catching up quick.

Hyejoo stuck part of her body out of the open window and fired her rifle back causing the car on the right to swerve out of the way as the car on the left took its place and sped up. Her eyes widened when she saw the android from earlier land on top of the attacker’s car and shot out one of its claw like hands attached to a chain from its arm. Hyejoo ducked back just in time as the passenger side’s door was ripped off and thrown into a building. 

Yerim tried to maneuver out of the way to no avail when the claw came back and this time, grabbed Hyejoo by the shoulder, yanking her out of the moving vehicle. She tumbled harshly onto the street, her body only stopping once she hit a parked car.

“Hyejoo!” Hyunjin yelled out. “Circle around and lose the tails. I’m going after her.” And with that, Hyunjin opened the door and jumped out, rolling before landing on her feet. The jeans where her knees are were ripped, revealing mechanical legs underneath. She sprinted for her sister.

Hyejoo groaned face down with her back aching from the impact. She grabbed at her ribs and looked up to see the black and white android coming at her. Before she could get up to her feet, she was knocked over again onto her back. The android’s right arm turned into a blade, bringing it down on her face. Hyejoo raised her arm up to block it. Metal scraped against metal as they fought for who was stronger. With a spurt of strength, Hyejoo yelled out and shoved the android, got up on her elbows, and kicked the enemy off. She aimed her mechanical arm up to attack, but nothing happened as she looked at her own blade that was jammed by the shot to her bicep.

“This is just great,” she grumbled when the android came at her again. 

The tall lanky looking figure didn’t get far when it was knocked back slightly by a bullet hitting its shoulder.

Hyunjin appeared with her gunblade, charging at the enemy only for it to turn its bladed arm to a gun and fired back at her. She ducked down behind other parked cars with Hyejoo still quite some distance away from her. Hyunjin tried peeking out when rapid shots began shooting at her again. The shots stopped when she heard a loud crash. Looking out now, she saw Yerim’s car with a dented front and the android trying to get up.

Yerim got out of the driver’s seat and walked to her trunk before pulling out a sledgehammer. She dragged it against the ground and walked towards the figure. It got up on one knee when Yerim raised the weapon and swung it as hard as she could, causing it to fall back. She raised it up again and brought it down.

“Do not touch my sisters!” She growled out at its bashed in head. “And do not touch my damn car!” The purple haired girl stepped on the android’s chest when it tried getting up again. She held the sledgehammer up as it turned into a shotgun, aiming it down, she fired a single shot to the figure’s head, half of it blowing off. Yerim looked up to her sisters. “Get in the car.”

Hyunjin glanced at Hyejoo who was holding onto her messed up arm. “Don’t tell her I spilled some coffee in the back seat this morning.”

Hyejoo shook her head in annoyance. “How many times have I told you not to drink or eat in there?”

“I get hungry, okay?” Hyunjin defended her self. “Get in the back. You’re not sitting up front with no door.”

“You sit in the middle then.” Hyejoo sped up her walk.

“What? No, you sit in the middle!”

Hyunjin ended up sitting in the middle with Chaewon to her left and Hyejoo to her right.

The oldest sister looked over at Hyejoo. “I always let you have what you want.”

“Whatever,” Hyejoo said rolling her eyes before wincing from her injuries.

Hyunjin’s face went from playful irritation to concern. “You okay?”

“Yeah, Doc’s probably going to need to repair more than just my arm though.”

“You could have just told me you were hurting instead of arguing your way out of the middle seat.” Hyunjin frowned at her sister, knowing Hyejoo wasn’t one to let others know when she was in pain.

“I’m fine.”

Chaewon scoffed from her seat. “You’re nothing but stubborn.”

Yerim drove as quickly as she could and parked the car at the corner of a street.

“Yo hi!” A little girl greeted them as they walked into a closed shop.

“Does your sister know you’re still working here?” Hyunjin asked, not really surprised to see who greeted them.

“What my sister doesn’t know can’t annoy her so,” her voice trailed.

Yerim raised an eyebrow. “Pretty sure that’s not how the saying goes, but okay, Yeojin.”

The said girl let out a laugh. “Doc’s in the back. She just got in.” Yeojin pressed a button on her arm that buzzed the back door open.

“Thanks, brat.” Hyejoo ruffled Yeojin’s hair before walking in.

“Yeah, thanks, brat,” Chaewon teased with a smirk, ruffling the girl’s hair that was even smaller than her.

Yeojin had her hands up in defense as Hyunjin approached.

The taller woman looked at her amused before pulling Yeojin into a headlock, ruffling her hair. “Thanks, brat!”

The tiny girl whined in annoyance and pushed a laughing Hyunjin off of her. She glared up at the last approaching sister. “Don’t.”

Yerim smiled and pulled Yeojin in anyways, but instead, gave the girl a kiss on the head. “Thanks, Yeojin-ie.”

“Hey Doc,” Hyejoo greeted, seeing a woman boredly tossing crumpled up paper into a bin.

The woman looked over to reveal that the right side of her face was mechanical along with her right arm. “How many times do I have to tell you to call me Vivi in here? Security is always up so no need for the code name.”

“But all tinkers are called doctors, while you’re “The Doctor”. Now that says something.” Hyejoo took a seat in a reclining chair without being told to.

“When you called in and said your arm needed a new mod, I didn’t think it’d be in this bad of a shape,” Vivi commented as she looked over Hyejoo’s damage.

“It wasn’t that bad until this android attacked twice. No idea who it was or who it belonged to.” Hyejoo winced when Vivi lifted up her arm, causing her ribs and back to hurt.

The pink haired woman hummed in response. “You guys ruled out Danny?”

“Yeah, don’t think it’s him since the thing attacked me near his bar.” Hyunjin twirled one of the pens that was on a desk.

“Definitely can’t be Danny, because he’s dead,” Vivi let out nonchalantly.

“What?” Everyone else in the room said in unison.

“The android was probably an assassin,” the woman continued. “What did you get tonight Chaewon?”

“Huh?” The small blonde asked confused at the sudden change of topic.

“You went out tonight?” Vivi clarified.

“Right.” Chaewon unzipped her jacket and reached into a small pocket in her dress to pull out an inhaler. “There’s a new player in the streets.” She tossed the object over to Vivi who caught it without looking. “Advertising it as medication you only have to take once a day instead of twice, but at the same price, so it’s selling like hot cakes.”

“Sounds too good to be true,” Yerim commented.

Chaewon shrugged. “Yeah, but people are desperate.”

There was a super virus that wiped out a large chunk of the population some time back. People were getting sick, coming down with a fever and flu like symptoms before dying about two weeks later. A cure was made, but it was only for the rich elite, the rest were sold inhalers that they had to take daily to keep the symptoms at bay. Soon, medication prices kept on raising causing unregulated inhalers to be produced and sold on the streets, but since those weren’t tested, many came with side effects.

“Someone doesn’t like you guys messing with their business.” Vivi looked up from working on Hyejoo’s arm. “There’s a bounty out for the Triplets.”

They all looked up in surprise again.

“We shouldn’t be here then.” Hyunjin got up as everyone did the same, not wanting Vivi to be in danger.

“And that is why I didn’t tell you guys over the call.” Vivi lightly pushed Hyejoo back down on the chair. “I don’t know who, but there’s been talks going on tonight. I wasn’t sure if it was true, but I guess it is if you’re telling me some random attacked.”

Hyejoo exhaled in annoyance. “Great. What are we supposed to do?”

Vivi shrugged. “Don’t know, but what mod you want on your arm first?”

“From getting shot at to almost getting my face sliced open, I think a shield would be nice.” Hyejoo looked down to where her arm should be after Vivi took it off. It was a bitter reminder of the things she has been through with her sisters.

The youngest sibling glanced over to Hyunjin who had taken off her boots to make sure nothing was damaged from the rough landing out of the car. They often bickered, but the day Hyunjin lost her legs was the day she thought she was going to lose her sister too and it made her heart ache thinking about it. While others chose to get mechanical parts, they didn’t have a choice. Hyejoo frowned at the memories that surfaced and bit her bottom lip.

“It’s going to take some time to fix the arm so might as well just get a whole new one.” Vivi came back holding up a limb that would fit Hyejoo. She didn’t need to take measurements, already being familiar with the triplets needs. “It’s a bit pricer to do that, but you could always sell me back your old one to save on cost.”

“Sure.” Hyejoo sat still as Vivi placed the arm on and tweaked it around to make it comfortable.

“Okay, like usual, I’m going to sync you in so it could connect.” Vivi reached for a cable and plugged it into a usb port on the side of Hyejoo’s neck, below her shard.

A shard was a flash drive that went into another port that everyone with augmentations had. It acted as a second brain to control cyberware and has everything a smartphone has but functions as part of a person’s body. There was no more need to call people using a separate device when a touch behind your ear became the standard way to communicate. Getting to a destination has never been easier when directions could be shown right before the eyes for only the user to see. The body became the most advanced technology that the line between human and android were blurred.

“That should do it.” Vivi unplugged the cable. “Test it out so I could see if there needs to be any adjustments.”

Hyejoo wiggled her mechanical fingers back and forth, and got up from the seat. Having a shard meant deploying weapons and defenses from augmentations with just thoughts. She held her arm up and exhaled before a blue transparent shield appeared in front of her, covering her whole arm and the top half of her body.

“You have to play around with it. The shield can cover more and become stronger, it just depends on the user and situation, until you get used to it at least,” Vivi explained. “It looks good. Does it feel fine?”

Hyejoo nodded. “About this bounty on our heads,” she started up again while looking over the arm.

“Ah, yes. It doesn’t seem like many people have been informed of it yet. The bounty is only set at half a million credits right now, so I’m thinking that only certain assassins were notified,” Vivi concluded. 

“I mean, it wasn’t really on the down low that we’ve been taking out these frauds, so why now?” Hyunjin questioned. The sisters are known to clean the streets of dealers who sold bad medication to the desperate poor.

“The new player?” Chaewon spoke up. “Maybe they want to take us out since they’ve been rising in demand and are afraid we’ll hear about it. Though it’s a bit too late for that.”

Hyunjin looked over to her friend. “You’re right. They want to take us out.” She motioned to herself and her siblings. “Not you, so we’re dropping you back at your sister’s when we get Yerim’s car fixed.”

“Oh come on, just ‘cause I don’t have a bounty on my head doesn’t mean I can’t help,” Chaewon argued back.

“Yeah, you don’t have a bounty on your head so let’s keep it that way.” Hyunjin drummed her fingers on the desk, already nervous about being around people she didn’t want to put in danger.

“I could ask around to see who set out the bounty,” Vivi suggested. 

“Could you do that without raising alarm that you’re helping us out? Otherwise, I think it’s better if we just patrol the streets and see what’s going on.” Yerim looked to her sisters who nodded in agreement. “Especially with Yeojin here too,” her voice got quieter thinking about the smaller girl.

Vivi sighed. “The kid has to have somewhere to go when her sister is working. I rather have her here than home alone. Besides, you know security here is top notch.”

“You’re right, but don’t tell her about this. She doesn’t need to get involved.”

“I wasn’t going to say a word, but you know how quickly words travel.” Vivi stood up and walked over to a cabinet before pulling out a bunch of inhalers. “I’ve been playing around with something. Instead of carrying around separate inhalers, I designed it so that you could have 2-3 different enhancers in one device depending on what you need.” She handed one out to each of the members.

Chaewon had her hand out to receive the object when Hyunjin grabbed her arm and glared at Vivi. “I said, Chaewon’s not a part of this.”

The pink haired tinker tilted her head. “You really think she’s going to stay away?” She handed Chaewon the inhaler again and the girl snatched it before Hyunjin could stop her. “It’s better to be safe if something were to happen.”

Hyunjin grumbled and now directed her glare at the blonde who wasn’t looking in her direction.

“The different colored tabs on the side indicate which enhancer is in use.” Vivi pointed to the side of the item. “An example is if you push down the red tab and inhale, you no longer feel pain for a bit, though you know how dangerous that could be. The second blue tab zones in your focus, making it easier to drown out outside distractions to concentrate on what needs to be done. You get the gist of it. Very customizable so let me know what you guys want.”

“So if I want to add a 3rd to that, like a relax enhancer, there would be less of each dose compared to if I only want two enhancers right?” Hyejoo looked over Vivi’s new pet project.

“Right, if you had two then there’d be more doses for those enhancers compared to if you had three different ones because of the capacity,” Vivi repeated to clarify to everyone. They had to be sure about everything especially when their jobs put their lives on the line.

“How much?” Hyejoo held up her wrist ready to pay for her new arm and inhaler.

“On the house. You guys are my test subjects anyways. I recommend you carry your other inhalers just in case, but I would like to see how these work out in the field before actually selling the product.” Vivi calculated the total, cutting the price of the sell back of the broken arm.

Hyejoo got a notification on her wrist as she pressed to confirm the payment. “Thanks, Doc.”


	3. THE AUTO SHOP

“You know, the shop is closed, so leaving the car overnight is probably best.” Chaewon adjusted her dress in the backseat of the car as Hyunjin handed the blonde her jacket again. “Thanks.”

“I don’t get why you have to wear something like that when you’re out,” Hyunjin commented, helping her friend pull down the dress a bit to get more comfortable.

“It gives me a more innocent look. Dealers are more likely to sell to me if I don’t look threatening.”

“You don’t ever look threatening,” Hyunjin teased with a smile.

The blonde gave her a look which only made Hyunjin laugh out loud.

They drove past the busy streets of the nightlife to an area that was a little more quiet. There were still people around, but not enough to hide enemies if they were trying to blend in amongst the crowd.

Yerim turned into a driveway of an auto shop that had an unlit sign that read “Odd Eye Circle”. The garage door opened automatically as her car got closer. She parked and everyone got out to a place they often frequented.

“Should I fix my car here or just drop off Chaewon?” Yerim asked a woman that was working under a car. She was certain if anyone knew of the bounty on their heads, it would be the mechanic.

The said woman rolled out from under to reveal a tall blonde as she stood up. She was wearing a long sleeve that only showed her mechanical hands as she wiped them on a towel. “You work here, Yerim. Bounty or not, this is your home,” she said, knowing what Yerim meant, and then looked over at Chaewon. “And you, didn’t I tell you to call me after you got done playing drug dealer?”

“We were in a rush. I totally forgot and then we got attacked, Jinsol,” Chaewon tried to explain to her older sister. “And I’m not a drug dealer.”

“Oh, so you also got attacked and you didn’t even think to call me.” Jinsol crossed her arms in annoyance.

“My bad. I’m sorry.” Chaewon raised up her arms in defense. “I just didn’t want you to worry,” she mumbled knowing that not calling probably made her sister worry even more.

Jinsol sighed. “But you’re okay?” She then looked at the rest of the members in the garage. “Are you all okay?”

They all nodded with Yerim giving a thumbs up instead.

“Now, what the hell happened to your car?” Jinsol asked looking at the hunk of metal with a missing door and messed up front.

Yerim shook her head. “Some androided smashed it up.”

“Pretty sure you smashed your car into that android,” Chaewon replied in a smartass tone.

“Same difference, either way, my car is damaged and I need it fixed.” 

“We’ll have to get a shipment in since it’s not like we keep extra doors around. I can fix up the front right now though,” Jinsol offered and walked towards the vehicle.

Yerim stood in front of the taller woman before she should inspect the damages. “You’re closed. You should be home, yet you’re out here still working.”

“Working keeps my mind off of things and since Chaewon decided not to call, I couldn’t just sit still.”

“I said I was sorry.” Chaewon tried to sound sincere but it came out a bit harsh.

“You’re always sorry. You’re sorry but you keep going out doing dangerous things,” Jinsol raised her voice.

“Look, Jinsol, I should be saying sorry to both of you,” Hyunjin spoke up. “I shouldn’t have ever let her work with us.”

“It’s not work if I don’t get paid for this. I want to do this,” Chaewon argued back. All her life, she’s been protected by her sister, but she wanted a purpose and the triplets gave her that. She just wanted to help clean the streets a little of scum even if she only played a little part in it.

“I know you want to do this. You’re your own person, but I just wish,” Jinsol placed a hand on her temple and rubbed it. “I just wish you’d be a bit more responsible and just call me, it’s all I ask. And you don’t have to apologize, Hyunjin. You didn’t force Chae to do anything. No one can force her to do anything.” Jinsol looked back up and placed her hands on her hips. “Now, are we fixing the car or what?”

“Aren’t you tired? I know you’ve been here all day. We could just fix it up tomorrow.” Yerim walked over to get a cover for her car.

“It’s fine. We can just deal with the front now and wait for the door shipment later. I’ll give you guys a ride back once we’re done.” Jinsol replaced parts of her mechanical hands into tools she was going to use for the damage.

Yerim dropped what she was doing and went to help Jinsol instead. “I could always just borrow Jungeun’s ride,” she said with a smirk, glancing over at another covered car in the garage.

The blonde let out a chuckle. “You could ask.”

“Yeah, maybe not. I rather not get a whole speech on how to take care of her baby.”

“If she saw your car right now, she’d definitely say no,” Jinsol pointed out jokingly. “She would want you to see some of her new weapons though. Jungeun’s out on a job right now, but she said to show you whatever while she’s gone.

Yerim sighed while still fixing the car. “We just got paid for a job, but that part of my money is just going to go to this, so don’t know what our budget is. Meds are bumped up in price again too and we’re running a bit low.” She then looked to her sisters who were talking with Chaewon on the other side of the room. “Since Danny’s no longer in business. Should we hit up some other people?”

“Danny was one of the best. Dangerous jobs, but always with the most accurate information and not to mention that the pay was good.” Hyunjin leaned back on a chair. “Such a shame, but yeah, I’ll get in contact with some people and see what I could do.”

“You know you could always take whatever you want and pay Jungeun back later,” Jinsol reminded.

“I know, but I always feel bad. You never know when we’re going to die, so what if she never gets her payment.” Yerim had the car hood popped open to examine if there were any damages on the inside.

Jinsol raised both of her eyebrows. “Ok, back up. Could you not say stuff like that?” 

Yerim looked up. “What? I’m just speaking the truth.” She shrugged. 

“Yeah, well, that’s even more reason to take whatever supplies you need. You really think Jungeun would care about money when it’s your guys lives on the line?” 

“Sorry.” Yerim shook her head. “I’ve just been in this line of work for so long that I know that none of us are invincible. Even with all of these modifications, it makes us seem like we’re indestructible, but we’re human first before android.”

Jinsol stood up and exhaled. “I’ve seen this in Jungeun and now I have to see it in you and your sisters too. You guys are all so ready to die, but you have to remember that there are people that care about you.”

“I know.” Yerim closed the car’s hood and stood facing Jinsol. “That’s why I’m going to talk to my sisters about staying away from here,” she spoke quietly.

“What are you talking about?” Jinsol knew, but she just didn’t want to accept it.

“There’s a bounty on our heads, Jinsol. That android tonight was just the start and more assassins will come. We have to take care of the problem before coming back here.” Yerim then glanced at the others. “I know you want to keep us safe, but you have to think about your sister first. Don’t let Chaewon follow us.”

“You guys are our family too,” Jinsol whispered angrily, not wanting the others to hear.

“That’s why I need you two to be safe while we figure this thing out. We can’t be worrying about anything, especially since we don’t know who we’re up against,” Yerim explained, hoping Jinsol would listen.

Jinsol nodded hesitantly, although she hated the idea of the triplets going off on their own. “Chae,” she called out. “You gonna show them the new weapons?”

The smaller blonde looked up from her seat and walked over as the others followed. “Of course. Jungeun did trust me to be her apprentice afterall.”

“Pretty sure she just wanted to keep you out of trouble,” Jinsol half teased.

Chaewon pouted. “Come on, you know I have a knack for weapons too. Though you’re not wrong, I totally would be pickpocketing the rich or something if I wasn’t here,” she said truthfully with a shrug.

Jinsol pinched the smaller girl’s arm out of annoyance.

“Ouch, what the hell?” Chaewon shouted, rubbing her arm.

“Are you still doing that?” Jinsol stood in front of a shelf full of tools before lifting and placing several things around.

“Doing what? Pickpocketing the rich? I just told you I would if I wasn’t here, but I’m here all the time aren’t I?” Chaewon argued back in her usual smartass tone.

Jinsol rolled her eyes and set down a weighted car figure on the top shelf as a secret door came open.

They all stepped into what seemed like a reading room until the shelves turned around to reveal weapons on every wall instead. The couch in the middle sank down into the ground and up came a glass display with different knives.

Yerim smiled and walked over to the knives while her sisters went for the guns.

“For a side arm, I recommend this.” Chaewon carefully picked up a pistol near where Hyejoo was looking at. “It’s much quieter than what you’re carrying. You don’t even need a suppressor with this and the grip is very water resistant for when things get a bit slick with, you know, blood or whatever”

Hyejoo held the gun in her hand and tested it out to see if she liked the feel of it. She nodded in approval and placed it on the glass display. “Gonna need several of those.” 

“How’s your gunblade doing?” Chaewon asked Hyunjin next.

“Awesome, have you seen the thing? People really think I only have a sword on me.” 

“Yeah, well, you probably should keep more fire power on you. There’s a rifle mod that just came in to replace the pistol on the blade.” Chaewon walked Hyunjin over to a corner where the mods were. “It’s a bit heavier, but if you want a bigger punch and still keep the blade, this is it.”

Hyunjin took her gun out of the holster for Chaewon to show her how to assemble the new mod.

“It’s pretty easy even if you’re in a rush.” Chaewon expertly turned the pistol into a gunblade before taking it apart and slapping the new rifle mod on and handed it to the taller girl.

“The nerd in me is geeking out.” Hyunjin was smiling widely as she examined her new toy.

“Well, while you play with that, don’t break anything with the sword.” Chaewon patted her friend’s shoulder. “I’m going to go see what Yerim’s into these days.”

The purple haired girl was still at the knife glass display with Jinsol showing her different things.

“Have you decided on anything?” Chaewon asked looking at what was laid out in front of Yerim.

Jinsol stepped aside to let her sister take over in a way of practicing her new job while Jungeun was away.

“I’m not sure. I want several things.” Yerim picked a fixed blade up. “I want this one for sure.”

“You like the weight or what?” Chaewon questioned knowing that the middle sister had random preferences with how she picked her weapons. 

“Yeah, it’s not too light or heavy so I could throw it with accuracy if I needed to.” Yerim threw the knife up and caught it by the bladed side. She smiled at how the knife landed exactly how she wanted it to.

“Jungeun left you something.” Chaewon went behind the glass display and pulled out a tray of different knives and sharp weapons. She handed the first one to Yerim. “Throwing stars or shuriken. Be a ninja for the day, but be aware, once these lands on a target, they cause a little explosion. Probably not enough to kill them, but definitely will knock them off their feet.”

Yerim let the weapons sit on her hands and held it up. “Can this be safely tested somewhere?”

“Yep, I can get some targets out later.” Chaewon then handed her another. “Karambit, can hook into enemies and overall badass hand to hand combat weapon. Over fighting people up close? Just toss it and bam, grenade.”

“Is Jungeun just into explosive knives these days or what?” Yerim raised an eyebrow but loved the idea of it anyways.

“Honestly? I think she’s been a bit stressed these days.” Chaewon shrugged.

Yerim hummed in response knowing how easily stressed their friend got. “Taking up too many jobs or what?”

“That and everything else I guess. Life is getting harder these days, which is why I’m going to need to take on more jobs too.”

“Yeah, but not these ones.”

Chaewon sighed in frustration. “I’m just as capable. I don’t get why you guys don’t trust me.”

Yerim put down the karambit onto the glass display and leaned in close with a hushed voice. “It’s not that we don’t trust you. It’s just— it’s just if something were to happen to you. You’re all Jinsol has and you can’t do that to her.” She glanced at her sisters who were preoccupied at the corner of the room with the tall blonde. “If something were to happen to me, Hyunjin and Hyejoo still have each other. Do you understand?”

“You always talk like you’re going to die yet you’re all smiles all the time.” Chaewon hated the way her friend talked with a bit too much honesty. “You might not be scared for your own safety, but I am okay?”

Yerim frowned. That was the second time that night someone called her out for being careless with her words. “Sorry.”

Chaewon ran her hand through her hair. “Anyways, last but not least, a mini gunblade? It’s a pistol with a knife attachment and you could definitely shoot the knife once you’re out of ammo and replace it with another too.”

“Hmm, the others sound fun, but the pistol with the blade sounds more practical for close quarters combat and as a ranged weapon.” Yerim picked it up and tested how it felt in her hands.

“Aw, a mini gunblade for my mini me.” Hyunjin approached from behind.

“Yeah, it suits you.” While Hyunjin’s voice sounded endearing, Hyejoo said hers with a smirk.

Yerim turned around with a smile, choosing to ignore Hyejoo’s obvious teasing about her being the smallest sibling.

“If you guys are done, I can drop you all off.” Jinsol handed each sister a duffle bag to place their weapons in.

“Please tell Jungeun we said thanks.” Hyunjin pressed a few things on her wrist. “We can pay half now and we’ll get the other half later.”

Jinsol waved her off and pressed on her own mechanical wrist to cancel the transaction. “Pay whenever you have the money, but we both know you guys need it right now.”

The three siblings gave her a thankful look knowing Jinsol had their backs. Whatever they needed, the older woman always tried her best to do what she could for them.

The ride back home wasn’t long, but they had to pass by some of the more dangerous streets before coming to an empty alley with a bunch of apartments.

Yerim had fallen asleep in the back middle seat, resting her head on Hyejoo’s shoulder and had a grip on Hyunjin’s hand.

Jinsol looked in the rear view mirror. “I feel like I’m raising three kids and this is the quietest they’ve been.”

“We can be quiet sometimes,” Hyunjin defended herself from the back.

“Yeah right, you guys and Chaewon are a mess.” Jinsol glanced over at her sleeping sister in the passenger seat. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way, so you all need to be careful.”

They arrived at their place as Yerim stirred awake.

“We’re always careful.” Hyunjin opened the door and got out of the car along with her sisters. “Thanks for the ride. We’ll come see you once we handle this thing.”

Jinsol hesitantly nodded her head before driving off.

“I called some people earlier,” Hyunjin said once they got into their building. “1 of the 3 has a job. I gotta meet up with Cecilia to get a payment card and then buy some weapon from some people she’s not very fond of.” She got to their door and opened it with a series of combinations. “I’ll send you guys the info and layout of where we’ll be.”

Yerim nodded tiredly, rubbing her eyes of sleep. “I’ll review it tomorrow morning.”

“So this is just a quick buy with no weapons right?” Hyejoo took off her boots and threw them to the side.

“Right. The pay is shit but that’s all we have right now. I’ll call more people tomorrow.” Hyunjin grabbed onto a yawning Yerim’s arm. “Come on, kid. Let’s go sleep.”

Yerim allowed herself to be dragged into her shared room with Hyunjin while Hyejoo went off into her own cave. The youngest sibling has a hard time falling asleep and it just made sense for the arrangement to be like that since Hyejoo often needed alone time to recharge as well.


	4. EASY MONEY

“Taking a taxi sucks,” Yerim commented as they got out of one that smelled of alcohol and vomit.

“Yeah, well, driving around in your three door car would have gotten us looks and being noticed is not what we want right now.” Hyunjin pulled up the collar of her jacket as her nose hurt from breathing in the morning’s cold air.

“I mean, we could have asked to borrow Jungeun’s car.”

“Yeah, I got lectured for forgetting a water bottle in there last time, no thanks.” Hyejoo found it awkward to not have any weapons on her, especially since they aren’t able to carry what they needed without a vehicle. “Are you good?” She took a glance over at Yerim.

The purple haired girl gave her a thumbs up. “I got you guys from up here.” She slung her custom made sniper bag over her shoulder. This was supposed to be an easy meet up, but one could never be too careful if something goes sideways. “Watch out for some tells, we never know if Cecilia or any of her people are in on the bounty. This could be a setup for all we know.”

Hyunjin nodded in agreement. “I really hope she hasn’t turned on us. As low paying her jobs are, they’re easy and we need easy money right now.” She did her usual little salute and walked off with Hyejoo by her side. “Try not to get too bored.”

“Being the lookout never gets boring,” Yerim sarcastically said as she went to go on higher grounds. She was used to being alone during missions. Although she would love to be in the front attacking, she knew she was the only one out of the three with enough patience to do what she does. 

This meeting place was at a junkyard. While most people had places to go meet, Cecilia preferred open areas where her own snipers could hide. It was a sense of security knowing that whoever she did business with never knew where her guards were.

Yerim already had set up her gun and had an eye on a sniper across from where she was. It was easy to spot them since she knew the best places to hide out. “One sniper to you right. Two guards on the ground next to Cecilia as you could see and another waiting in a car by the exit,” she spoke into her open line of communication to her sisters.

Turning her scope down, Yerim finally saw her siblings approach the tall woman in a business suit.

“Pleasure to see you both again.” The woman stuck her hand out for a handshake.

Hyunjin took it first. “Likewise, Cecilia.”

Hyejoo stepped forward to follow suit and then took her place besides Hyunjin again.

“Credits are on here.” Cecilia held up the transparent card with neon blue writing on it. “I just need you to go in and talk to a guy that goes by Smalls. He’ll be the one with the product I sent you info about last night.”

“Smalls? Let me guess, it’s some huge dude that thinks that the name is cute.” Hyunjin held her hand out as the other woman placed the card onto it.

Cecilia smiled, walking back to her car with the door already held open for her. “Something like that. I need the product by tonight, no later than 2200.”

Before anyone could respond, the guard by the car slammed the door shut with his body as he slid onto the ground in a heap. Hyunjin instinctively pulled Hyejoo down and made a run for cover behind old cars as more bullets rained down.

“Bad move, Hyunjin!” They heard Cecilia yelling from somewhere.

“That wasn’t us!” Hyunjin shouted back. She tried looking over but Cecilia’s guys had their guns aimed at them. “So not cool. What’s happening on your end, Yerim?” 

“It didn’t come from C’s sniper, but her guy has his sights on you.” Yerim turned her scope to a different spot. “Her guard at the exit is down, someone that isn’t her people is heading your way.” She aimed her rifle and fired. “And they’re down.” 

Yerim was about to check another spot when a shot hit near her. She ducked, pulling her gun down with her. “Her sniper is aiming for me. Do I take him out or what?”

They knew if they killed one of her men, then they had no excuses for when Cecilia sends her people after them.

“Do what you need to do,” came Hyunjin’s voice.

Yerim crawled to another area and went down the stairs to a lower level to get out of the line of sight before placing her sniper rifle back on a different ledge. Her scope caught two other approaching men coming from behind her sisters.

Yerim didn’t even think as she took aim and pulled the trigger, hitting one of the men directly in the head. She knew her sisters could take on the new threat by themselves, but without weapons and Cecilia gunning for them too, she didn’t want to take any chances. Instantly spotting the other man who was trying to run, she fired another shot, instantly killing him too. 

Yerim moved to the side to not stay in the same position and turned her scope back up in search for the sniper, but before she could get sight on him, something knocked her back as she was forced to duck down.

“Dammit,” Yerim groaned as her left hand automatically went up to her right shoulder. She checked for an exit wound and sighed in relief when she saw that the bullet passed straight through. Reaching up to her face, she pulled away to see more blood.

The sniper was good. He had barely missed her head even when she moved, nicking her face instead.

“Yerim? You okay?” She heard Hyejoo ask over the line, forgetting that her sisters could hear everything on her side.

“The sniper is still active and there’s another guy coming at your 3 o’clock,” Yerim answered instead, choosing to ignore Hyejoo’s question. “I’m going to see if I could take C’s man out.” 

Yerim pulled the end of her rifle down as shots hit in her direction with the move, indicating that the sniper still had his aim on her. She reached into her inner pocket of her jacket and pulled out an inhaler before shaking it and taking a puff. Taking a few deep breaths, the pain in her shoulder started to fade. She switched the next tab on the inhaler and took in another enhancer, this time, she was able to focus on her job instead of her injury being a concern.

Lugging the giant gun with her good arm, she crawled out of the area, and went back up the stairs to higher grounds of the parking structure. Yerim rested her back against the ledge as she reached her destination. She took in a few more deep breaths before swiftly bringing her sniper rifle up to locate the enemy. He wasn’t in the same position he was as she scanned the area. Her arm was shaking even with the enhancers. Switching to her left hand, she looked around again until she saw the other sniper a floor below from where he originally was. Yerim took aim and fired two quick shots just to make sure he was taken care of. Seeing that she hit her target, she immediately ran out with the rifle to get to her sisters.

Carrying the rifle up while Yerim’s shoulder was still bleeding became difficult as she slung it over her left shoulder and pulled out her pistol with the blade attachment instead. 

“The sniper is down. What’s your status?” Yerim asked as she shook her head from a bit of dizziness.

“Cecilia’s dead.” Hyunjin gestured for Hyejoo to go ahead with her shield mod up. 

Hyejoo nodded and ran for a fallen gun off an enemy that Yerim had sniped. She dove for the weapon as bullets bounced off of the almost invisible shield. Hyunjin trailed closely behind and took the gun Hyejoo handed to her.

“Shit.” Hyunjin checked the gun over. “It operates with specific fingerprints. Besides the protectorate, who even has weapons like this?”

Other than the police that patrolled the city, the protectorate specialized in larger crimes like tracking mercenaries like themselves and taking down businesses like Cecilia’s. They were known to have weapons that only worked with fingerprints within the organization so that enemies can’t use them if they were to get their guns snatched.

“I’m coming your way, just hang on,” Yerim spoke out of breath on the other line.

Hyejoo rammed into a man that was firing at them up ahead. He was knocked to the ground and tried reaching for the gun again when Hyunjin’s mechanical foot stomped on his arm, breaking it. The man screamed, but it was cut short as Hyejoo brought down the bottom end of the shield onto his chest. Hyunjin bent down to check the man over and pulled out a knife from his ankle before quickly turning around and throwing the weapon at another approaching enemy.

“We should have borrowed Jungeun’s car!” Hyunjin growled out, holding onto her sister’s shoulder as she lead them out of the open area.

“I rather her lecture us right now on cleaning than being shot at, that’s for sure.” Hyejoo pulled Hyunjin behind other junk cars as shots were still firing at them.

Hyunjin looked under the car to see someone approaching them. She motioned to Hyejoo that the enemy was coming on her side. Hyejoo nodded, ducking down farther as she waited. When Hyunjin gave her the signal, she reached her mechanical hand out and grabbed at the man’s ankle, pulling him towards her before bringing down her fist repeatedly.

“This was supposed to be easy money,” Hyejoo growled out, shaking her arm of the enemy’s blood that dripped from it.

“I mean, we still have Cecilia’s card and she’s dead, so,” Hyunjin’s voice trailed as she patted her pocket where the item was.

“Her minions will probably cancel it once they find out she’s gone.”

“Or I could just transfer it to myself and hope they don’t come after us.”

They both looked at each other, weighing out the pros and cons.

“You know what? Let’s just toss the damn thing. It’s not even worth it.” Hyunjin reached into her pocket to pull out the card.

Hyejoo nodded in agreement as Hyunjin tossed the card to the side.

~

Yerim wasn’t expecting anyone to come after her since it seemed like most had their attentions on her sisters. She was proven wrong when she had to shoot a man as he approached her with his weapon up. Before he could even fall to his knees, she ran and shoved him back into his teammate causing the woman behind him to stumble. Yerim took the opportunity and pounced on the woman, bringing the bladed end of the gun down on the enemy’s neck.

She exited the parking structure, but being on ground level left Yerim out in the open to close the distance between her and her sisters. 

She quickly scanned the area. “I’m near the south entrance. It’s better if you come to me with that shield of yours. I got your back.”

Yerim got a short reply as she watched her siblings run towards her direction. She stayed put and fired her gun at approaching enemies with their weapons aimed at Hyunjin’s open back where the shield couldn’t cover.

Taking the rifle sling off from her shoulder, she handed the gun to Hyunjin and took out a pistol from one of her holsters for Hyejoo.

Hyunjin didn’t waste time to turn around and fire back as they took cover. “There’s only a few left. Hyejoo, shield up front. Yerim, you get our backs.”

The sisters nodded as they got into formation and went out to take care of the rest of the intruders. 

“You said Cecilia’s dead!” Yerim shouted from behind.

“She is. She got shot in the chest twice and I saw her go down!” Hyunjin shouted back in between shots.

“Then why is she coming towards us at full speed?” Yerim grabbed Hyunjin to turn all of their positions around.

Hyejoo raised an eyebrow but kept the shield up as the other woman sprinted at them with no weapons on her.

“Cecilia! Stop! The attack wasn’t us!” Hyunjin tried getting the woman to listen to her, but she kept her fast pace.

“Am I supposed to shoot?” Hyejoo asked confused as she gripped onto the gun tighter.

Hyunjin hesitated to answer, but as Cecilia got closer and out came a giant blade from her mechanical arm, Hyunjin had to make a call.

“Just knock her out and leave her here. Cecilia’s people will find her and check her shard or something,” Hyunjin said knowing that most people had security put in place to where everything was recorded with their eyes and can be reviewed through their shard flash drive. Once her people checked it, they will know that the siblings weren’t the ones to attack first.

“C’s the only one left,” Yerim announced from behind, still watching their backs.

Hyejoo stood her ground as the woman got closer, but widen her eyes when the blade in Cecilia’s arm shot out. She instinctively pushed her sisters to the side and rolled out of the way when the blade stuck itself into the ground between them. Hyejoo sprung back up as the woman came for her and used the shield to block another attack.

Hyunjin ran behind Cecilia and wrapped her right arm around her neck to pull her away from her sister, but had to let go when the bladed arm tried to slice her open. The woman in the business suit went back to her original target as if Hyunjin didn’t even phase her.

“Cecilia, listen to me! We wouldn’t have turned on you!” Hyunjin shouted to get the woman to stop, but her onslaught of attacks kept coming even when it was useless against Hyejoo’s shield. She growled in frustration and took the rifle that was slung over her shoulder off and used the end of it to bring down onto the back of attacker’s head.

Cecilia fell to her knees and whipped her head around. In the years, they have known the woman, Hyunjin has never seen this side of her. The look in her eyes made it seem like she was an entirely different person.

As if the blow to the head didn’t hurt at all, Cecilia got back up on one foot, but was knocked down again when Hyejoo swung her arm to the side of the woman’s head.

“Can we go now?” Hyejoo asked, stepping over Cecilia’s body.

Hyunjin nodded and was already jogging out of the area with her sisters following closely behind.

“Guys,” Yerim called out as they reached a safe spot.

They both turned around to see Yerim standing there, looking pale. Hyejoo was the first to finally notice the blood on the black leather jacket and rushed over as Yerim started to fall forward.

“Yerim, what the hell.” Hyejoo guided her sister down carefully so that her knees didn’t slam on the ground. She looked up to Hyunjin who was already taking off her jacket to press against the wound. There was so much going on that they hadn’t even realized that Yerim was injured. 

“I can’t stop the bleeding,” Yerim grunted as the pain started to set in after the enhancers wore off. “Taxi’s coming in under a minute. Help me up.”

“Doc said she’d be in all day today.” Hyejoo pulled Yerim’s good arm over her shoulder and supported her weight as she stood up. 

Hyunjin dug around in Yerim’s jacket pockets and pulled out her inhaler. “Which one’s which?”

“Red.” Yerim was trying to take in deep breaths.

The oldest sibling switched the tab to the right one and shook the device before giving it to her sister. “You’re so stupid. You should have just stayed put.”

“My job is watch your backs. I watched your guys backs,” Yerim simply said.

“Your job is to stay alive!” Hyunjin snapped and ran her hand through her hair in frustration.

“Hyunjin.” Hyejoo placed a hand on her sister’s arm to calm her down.

“Don’t.” Hyunjin shrugged the hand off. “There’s a bounty on our heads, someone is obviously trying to kill off our connections to make money, and I need you guys to be more cautious. I’m sorry I yelled, but we can’t do what we always do and just run out there guns blazing. We have to be more careful now because this might be the last time we could go to Doc’s.”

The other two nodded their heads as they let it sink in that the bounty just got more dangerous. Whoever is after them somehow knows who they’re connected with. No one else knew of their meeting place, so they could conclude that they’re being tracked or information is getting leaked in some way.

The taxi arrived shortly as they got in with Hyunjin giving directions.

“Heart rate level of passenger two is irregular, blood loss is significant. Could I suggest a visit to the hospital?” The robotic voice came out of the usual same looking androids that operated taxis.

“No, just get us to where we need to be.” Hyunjin kept her eyes to the front so that they could get to Vivi’s by the fastest route.

“Taxi rates are higher if the vehicle requires cleaning of the seats,” the robotic voice spoke again obviously talking about the blood that was spilling in the back.

“I don’t care!” Hyunjin yelled as she glanced to Yerim who was trying to stay awake with the help of Hyejoo. “Drive faster!”

“There are speed regulations in this area that I must follow.”

Hyunjin slammed her hand down on the back of the driver’s seat. “Jungeun’s car would have been really nice right now.”

The taxi stopped on a street in front of an alley as Hyunjin got out of the car and carefully helped Yerim out.

“I can walk.” Yerim placed her arm over Hyunjin’s shoulder while Hyejoo paid for their ride.

They passed several doors in the alley before arriving to one that read “Bakery 1/3”. Hyejoo rang the bell and waited before a sound buzzed them in. Yanking the door open, they were greeted by a girl with long dark hair.

“What the hell happened?” She asked immediately seeing an injured Yerim.

“Not now, Heejin.” Hyejoo pushed passed the girl. “Don’t tell Yeojin about this, and stay out of the kitchen.”

“You could just get a whole new arm.” Vivi rolled over a machine with lasers that extended over Yerim who was laying down on an operation table.

“No thanks. Blood would be nice though, feeling a bit woozy,” Yerim replied looking at the hole in her shoulder.

“You’re bleeding out and you’re using words like “woozy”, why is that so Yerim of you?” Hyejoo asked in a seat next to her sister.

“Why is it so Hyejoo of you to question my vocabulary?” Yerim looked down to see Vivi sticking a needle in her veins for the blood transfusion.

“Like always, this is going to hurt.” Vivi then sat down and placed the machine over the injured shoulder. “You want to bite down on something?”

Yerim nodded and exhaled.

Vivi got up to grab a small clean towel and walked back. “Open,” she instructed. “Close.”

Yerim did what she was told and bit down onto the towel as Vivi got the machine to do its work. Hyejoo took a hold of her sister’s hand as she squeezed tightly with eyes clenched shut. The grip on her hand loosened when the laser was halfway done.

“The pain is no joke, but she’s resting now.” Vivi motioned to an unconscious Yerim and took the towel out of her mouth.

“But she’ll be fine?” Hyunjin had been pacing around the room.

Vivi nodded. “Now what the hell happened?”

Hyunjin stopped pacing and sat down on the closest chair. “Well, for one, your inhalers work amazingly according to Yerim. The second thing, I think someone is gunning down our connections to jobs. We have money now, but it won’t last us long.”

“I can always lend you money.” Vivi already had her wrist up.

“No, please. You’ve already given us so much.”

Vivi sighed and kept on pressing things on her wrist. “Prices of medication is rising. Soon, you’ll be forced to use inhalers on the streets that you’ve worked so hard to clean the city of. People have died and suffered long term complications because of those, are you going to risk it?”

Hyejoo shook her head and spoke up. “We’ll make money somehow. We always find a way. We have to.”

“Or you could accept my help.” Vivi pulled the machine away from Yerim and checked over the now closed injury.

Hyunjin felt a notification on her own wrist as she brought it up to see an amount of credits on there.

“Things have been bad for all of us. You’re not well off either, Vivi.” Hyunjin held the wrist up with a large number on there.

Vivi shrugged. “I’ll survive.”

“We’re already risking your life by being here, not to mention everyone that works for your front.”

“Just accept the money and say thank you.”

Hyunjin bit her lip and clicked the confirmation button on her wrist. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” Vivi replied with a smile before it turned into a frown. “I just got word that your bounties have been bumped up to 2.5 million creds. Seems like whatever you did in the meet up with Cecilia brought you more attention.” It was common for calls to be sent back and forth without answering them like leaving a voicemail.

“They couldn’t round it up? That’s not even a million for each of our heads,” Hyejoo sarcastically said out of spite. “Is it still exclusive or is it an open contract now?”

The pink haired woman leaned back in her chair. “I’m not sure, but it’s rising fast, and you know what happens when the bounty hits 7 mil.”

“Let’s not go there.” Hyejoo pulled the blanket up higher on Yerim. “I hate to ask for another favor, but could Yerim stay here while we go pick up the car?”

Vivi raised her left eyebrow, the only eyebrow she had anyways with the other half of her face being mechanical. “How’d you guys get here?”

“A taxi. We went to a meet up in a taxi and then had to throw out a perfectly good sniper rifle ‘cause any guns bigger than our side arms weren’t allowed,” Hyunjin’s voice was laced with annoyance that they had to lose a weapon. All they had now were pistols that Yerim carried on her while the rest were in their car at the shop.

“Yerim’s blood in the taxi.” They all knew that public transportation was risky in their line of work. The androids in the taxis are required to notify the police of suspicious activities.

“No, don’t worry. Of course we took care of that,” Hyunjin reassured.

They all had connections everywhere for certain things. It was a way of life for mercenaries and other jobs that required to be kept on the down low.

The tinker nodded. “You guys go ahead. I’ll keep Yerim comfy.”


	5. THE CRAZIES

“It’s like every taxi we get in is nastier than the last.” Hyejoo scrunched her face as she got out of the vehicle, having reached the auto shop.

“Let’s just hope that’s the last time we have to use one.” Hyunjin led the way to the back, not wanting to make a front entrance since the garage was wide open when it was in business.

The door popped open before they even reached it.

“Where’s Yerim?” Chaewon asked right when she saw the sisters.

“At Doc’s,” Hyunjin answered quickly and plopped down onto the couch that was there. “Where’s Jinsol?”

“Where’s Yerim?” The two siblings turned their attention to another voice.

“At Doc’s,” Chaewon repeated in a mocking tone before they could respond.

Jinsol flinched at the answer. “I heard what happened with your meet up. Is Yerim okay?”

“She’s fine,” Hyunjin answered with a sigh. “Can we get the car? We need to get out of here.” She then pressed a few things on her wrist.

Jinsol held up her own wrist as the notification alerted her of the payment. “That covers the car and the weapons. Where’d you get the money?”

“Doc,” Hyunjin responded, not wanting to elaborate on it. 

Jinsol crossed her arms. “Are you really not going to tell me what’s going on? I know your bounties have been raised. I know you’re going to say some bullshit like how picking up the car will be your last time here until you sort things out,” her voice was filled with irritation.

“The less you know, the better, okay?” 

“Is it really? The less I know, the more worried I get,” the blonde raised her voice.

“I’m sorry, but please just drop it.”

Jinsol stood there with teeth clenched before heading off. “I’ll bring the car around to the back.”

“Thank you.” Hyunjin got off of the couch with Hyejoo following. She then turned around to the small blonde. “Stay safe.”

“I should be saying that to you.” Chaewon had the back door open for them.

“I mean it, Chaewon. The whole mission on getting inhalers off the streets is on hold for now, so don’t go off on your own.”

Chaewon grumbled before answering, “I’m not going to do anything.”

Hyunjin sighed and gave the smaller girl a hug.

“Are you not going to hug me?” Chaewon let go to look at Hyejoo who was already out of the door.

Hyejoo stepped back in and pulled the blonde into a tight hug. “I’m coming back for the ice cream I left in the mini fridge, so it better be there when I’m back,” she whispered before kissing the top of Chaewon’s head.

“Yeah, whatever.” Chaewon rolled her eyes and then nodded her head out the door. “Your ride is here.”

Hyejoo nodded, letting go of the hug and walked out with her sister.

Hyunjin checked the trunk for all of their weapons and then got into the driver’s seat. “I only get to drive this car once every blue moon and I’m not sure if I like it.”

They were so used to Yerim driving that it always felt off when she wasn’t and especially under circumstances where it’s because she’s injured.

“Do you see that?” Hyejoo was staring off to the side of her window.

Hyunjin followed her gaze and saw someone chasing another person that had an injured arm before tackling them down and smashing their head into the pavement over and over again.

“In broad daylight?” Hyejoo questioned.

They both kept their stares at what was unfolding until a noise at Hyunjin’s side of the window jolted their attention to it. 

“What the hell?” Hyunjin yelled in annoyance at a man banging on their car. She swung the driver’s door open, making the man stumble back before he advanced again. “Hey, what’s your problem?”

The man didn’t answer as he took a swing at Hyunjin who ducked just in time and tackled him into the side of the alley, outside of the auto shop.

Hyejoo stepped out of the car with her pistol in hand. Hyunjin had the man pinned to the wall but he kept thrashing around until she couldn’t hold him anymore.

“Get away from her or I’ll shoot!” Hyejoo shouted with her weapon up at the man who was trying to grab at Hyunjin. “Shit,” she said under her breath as he didn’t listen and got closer.

“Don’t touch me or I’m going to hit back.” Hyunjin shoved the man, but he kept coming at her.

Hyejoo grabbed the man’s neck from behind with her mechanical arm and slammed him into the ground. “Stop moving!” Her voice was running out of patience.

“Incoming call from Doc for the both of us,” Hyunjin said as she stepped on one of the man’s arms that was reaching for Hyejoo. She pressed behind her ear and did the same for her sister. “What’s up, Doc? We’re kind of busy here.” Hyunjin then went to the trunk and pulled out another weapon. “Get out of the way, Hyejoo.”

The girl listened and right as she got off of him, Hyunjin fired the taser. The man’s body on the ground shook uncontrollably before going limp.

“Yeah, but have you heard about what happened to Cecilia?” Vivi’s voice came through to both of them.

“No?” Hyunjin answered, not sure what Vivi meant by that.

“She’s dead, just like Danny.”

“What? We didn’t kill her. We left her unconscious,” Hyejoo said in defense.

“I know you guys didn’t. The protectorate killed her.”

Hyunjin went to stand by the car. “Are we missing something here?” 

“All I know is that Cecilia went on some rampage, hurting and killing anyone she saw, so the police had to take her down.” 

The sisters gave each other a look. 

“She did attack us like she couldn’t tell who we were or something.” Hyunjin shifted in her stance. “You know Cecilia, she’s logical. She wouldn’t just do something like that, right?”

“There’s been multiple reports of attacks similar to this. At first, I thought it was just the usual crime that happens in the city, but these seem a bit off.”

They gave each other another look before their gaze went to the unconscious man on the ground.

Hyunjin placed her hand on her holster. “Um, could I report another one of those incidents outside of OEC?”

“What happened?”

“You know, just some dude smashing another person’s head into the ground repeatedly and then we had to tase another guy ‘cause he wouldn’t stop attacking us.”

“Get out of there.” There was shuffling on the other side of the line before Vivi spoke again. “A little bird found the exact same inhaler Chaewon gave me from the new player in Cecilia’s jacket. I think whatever is happening could be connected to this.”

“Got it. Keep us updated.” Hyunjin ended the call.

“I know we said we have to stay away from Jinsol and Chae, but are they really safe when this attack just happened outside of the shop?” Hyejoo asked standing outside of the car.

Hyunjin ran her hand through her hair and let out a loud exhale before making her way back into the auto shop with Hyejoo.

“So first, you guys have to stay away from us and now you want us to just leave work in the middle of the day to come with you?” Jinsol asked with eyebrows raised.

Hyunjin scratched the back of her neck. “Something like that.” 

“I have cars to fix and places to be.” Jinsol pulled her dirty shirt off and threw on an oversized white tee and a black zip up hoodie from one of the garage’s lockers. “But the unconscious man outside the shop and the other dead guy does seem like a concern.”

“Yeah, and we’re just dropping you guys off at Doc’s. You still shouldn’t be around us with the bounty up.”

“Then it’s settled? Can we go now?” Hyejoo was already by the door.

“Yeah, but I’m taking my own car.” Jinsol tied her hair into a low ponytail and put on a black cap. “I have a race tonight.”

Hyunjin watched Jinsol walk to her car with Chaewon following. “You think that’s safe?”

“Is anywhere safe? I don’t even get why you want to take us to Doc’s.” Jinsol opened the car door. “What are we going to do? Stay there for a day and then come back ‘cause I need to work, you know. This place doesn’t pay itself.”

“I don’t know, okay? All I know is that we fought a rage filled Cecilia and it was like she didn’t even feel pain, and,” Hyunjin stammered, “and the guy outside of your shop? He attacked us for no reason at all. Something is going on and we don’t know what. I just— I need to know that you guys are safe.”

Jinsol sighed and got into the car. “Tonight’s race is 2k buy in, 10k winners take all. I know you want me safe, but if I don’t make money, I’m dead either way.” She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “I’m sure you know that Yerim also has a race tonight right? It’s a small 4k win, but it’s against someone new in town. It should be easy money.”

“Yeah, she’s not racing tonight,” Hyejoo replied.

“You said she’s fine but you also know that racers who miss races get banned for months.” Jinsol started up her car. 

“I can take her spot,” Chaewon spoke up with her hand raised.

“No,” they said in unison.

“Fine, geez.” Chaewon threw both hands in the air before crossing them.

“Being banned is better than being dead.” Hyejoo exited the door to get to the alley with Hyunjin closely by. She frowned as she stepped out. “The guy is gone.”

Hyunjin shrugged. “As long as he doesn’t come back.” She got back in the driver seat and started up the car.

They drove out of the alley and waited for Jinsol to follow them.

“You’re seeing that right?” Chaewon asked from the passenger seat.

“Yeah, bunch of cops arresting people. Nothing new,” Jinsol answered, keeping her eyes on the road.

Chaewon pointed out the window. “No, they’re not just arresting people, there’s blood all over the ground that they’re trying to cover up, and it’s not just the cops, the protectorate are here too.”

“Come to think about it, Jungeun called a few days ago telling me about the job she was on and how she kept shooting at a target but they wouldn’t go down. The protectorate came to the scene after.” Jinsol signaled and changed lanes. “I thought that maybe the person was just drugged up on a bunch of enhancers or something, but that’s not how they work.”

“You think all of this is connected?” 

They passed all of the police cars and reached an area with less people.

“Who knows. I me—,” Jinsol’s words were cut short.

“Watch out!” Chaewon yelled while gripping the car seat.

Jinsol slammed on the brakes too late when a body hits her car and rolls under it.

“Are you okay?” Jinsol frantically asked Chaewon who was grabbing onto her neck.

“Whiplash. I’m fine.” Chaewon looked at Jinsol before they both turned around to look out the back window.

Jinsol unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door. “Stay here. Call the police and then tell Hyunjin to stay out of the way.” She could see her friend’s car already making a u-turn for them up ahead.

Jinsol walked towards the man that was trying to get up. “Hey, stay down. Help will be on its way.”

The man still struggled, getting up to his knees and then staggered to his feet.

“Are you okay?” She asked the man with his chin down to his chest.

He didn’t answer but instead lifted his head up, snarling at Jinsol.

“Hey man, I’m sorry I hit you, but you came out of nowhere.” Jinsol looked to her car again to see Chaewon keeping an eye on her.

Jinsol turned her attention back to the man who was now limping towards her. “You touch me and you’re getting a blade through your chest, do you understand?” She didn’t want to leave a scene and make it a hit and run, but this man felt dangerous.

A loud noise from behind made Jinsol turn around again to now see some sort of grappling hook attached to the front of Yerim’s car, pulling their car towards hers.

Jinsol’s eyes followed where the hook was coming from and saw a chain that led to a vehicle that was approaching from the right side of her car. She heard a snarl and instinctively ducked as the man took a swing at her.

“Back off!” Jinsol yelled, shoving the man with the half mechanical face.

He stumbled back a few steps before advancing again.

“What the hell,” Jinsol said under her breath before making a break for the vehicle. She got in the car to see Chaewon with a pistol out from the glove compartment.

“They can’t move with the hook in!” Chaewon motioned towards their friend’s car that was being pulled along by the front.

Before Jinsol could drive off, the man outside slammed his head into her window making them both jump.

“This guy’s getting on my nerves.” Jinsol stepped on the accelerator, but the built man hung on and this time, smashed his head again, breaking through the window.

Jinsol swerved to the right when he grabbed for her.

“Careful!” Chaewon shouted to her sister who swerved back into her lane, just missing the cars parked to the side.

“I’m supposed to be laying low of the police, but you’re pissing me off!” Jinsol was normally a chill person, but she was losing her cool at the moment. She pointed her mechanical right arm at the man and out came a blade that resembled a praying mantis, stabbing him in the chest. She then opened the door when he let one hand go of the car and then slammed it back shut. The man flew off, rolling on the streets, but Jinsol could already see him trying to get up from her side mirror from behind. “Take the wheel,” she instructed after making a U-turn, having passed their friend’s vehicle.

“What?” Jinsol never let Chaewon drive her car, especially when she was still in the passenger’s seat.

“Drive up to the chain of the hook.” Jinsol stuck half her body out of the window with her bladed arm extended.

Their car was catching up to Yerim’s. Chaewon drove close, trying to get Jinsol in arms length of the chain but it was difficult with how big the cars were.

“It’s not going to work!” Chaewon yelled and turned the steering wheel away from them. “It’ll take too long and we don’t have time!”

Jinsol got back into the car and reached behind her seats to pull out two black helmets. “Wipe that smile off your face.” She placed one on her sister’s lap and took off her cap to put on her own before taking the wheel back. “Be careful,” she sternly said.

Chaewon took the helmet and wore it on as well. Flipping a switch to her left, the compartment in front of her opened up to reveal another steering wheel. “Ready?” She asked looking at her sister who nodded in return.” Chaewon flipped a few more switches when their car started to make noises, quickly transforming itself into two separate motorcycles.

“I’m going for the chain again. Stay close, but go to Doc’s if anything happens,” Jinsol directed, catching up to them once more to see that Yerim’s car was getting close to another vehicle in front as they were pulled back and forth. 

She sped up with a twin blade from her left arm sprung out. Jinsol had to calculate how fast she needed to get this done to not hit into the slow driving car in front of them or get smashed by her friend’s car that was moving unpredictably. Speeding up again, she got between and right as she was getting close to running into someone’s car in front, she swerved to the left where the chain was and brought down her bladed arm as hard as she could. The chain snapped like butter, sending it back towards her friend’s vehicle. Jinsol tried to maneuver out of the way, but was clipped by the side of Yerim’s car as she passed, causing her motorcycle to topple over and sending her rolling into a parked car.

Seeing Jinsol fall, Chaewon sped over and quickly ran to her sister. “Jinsol!” She fell to her knees and took the helmet off to hear Jinsol coughing.

“I’m okay,” Jinsol wheezed out. “I think I’m okay.”

“Jesus, you scared me.” Chaewon pulled Jinsol into a hug.

“Ow! It still hurts though!” Jinsol scrunched her face from pain and pulled away. “Where’s the others?”

Chaewon stood and helped her sister up when they heard police sirens.

“They’re turning around.” Chaewon walked towards her bike again. “Could you still ride?”

Jinsol nodded and half limped and half ran to her own. “Doc’s calling all of us,” she yelled back and pressed the line of communication on.

“Don’t come to the bakery! Those crazy people I was talking about, they broke into the store with customers here and everything.” They heard Vivi talking quickly. “I’m going to handle things here and head the group to Eden.”

“What’s at Eden?” Hyunjin asked, looking through the rear view mirror to see if the car that attacked them was still following, but it seemed like the police sirens scared them away.

“A possible safer place while we figure things out.” They heard loud noises over the other line. “The protectorate are blocking off this side of the city so we need to get out soon before they quarantine us in.”

“If you guys are heading there, you’re probably not far from us since we’re pretty close to your place.” They could tell Jinsol was in pain talking with the way she grunted in between her sentence.

“That’s good. The last thing we want is to be separated too far. I have to go. Seems like they’re trying to cut communication off by how staticky things are getting.” It was usual for the protectorate to lessen calls in and out of a blocked off area when they’re trying to contain problems quickly without a bunch of rumors spreading.

The notification that Vivi had left the group call alerted them that they probably won’t be able to get back in contact until both groups are farther away from the blockade.

“Can you guys hear me?” Hyejoo asked, hoping her group could at least talk to each other.

“It’s hard to hear and the static is hurting my head,” Chaewon answered.

“Turn communications off for now. We can test it later.” Hyejoo waited for the responses before turning off hers and then glanced at Hyunjin. “The front is messed up again.”

“Yerim’s going to be so annoyed.” Hyunjin shook her head thinking about the recent attack. Whoever shot the hook at their car also fired at them, but only hitting the front bumper. “Who the hell are they hiring to take us out? That was a sloppy and reckless job.” They’ve been attacked in broad daylight before but the way the assassins after them caused a big scene in the middle of the streets was stupid.

Hyejoo knitted her eyebrows together. “Do you think it was on purpose?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure but it like they raised the bounty up fairly quickly after a failed attempt. If they raise it up again after this one, it seems like it was done on purpose, like someone wants it to get to 7mil.”

Hyunjin took a worried glance over at Hyejoo. “It wouldn’t be the first time a bounty has been manipulated.”

“Yerim needs to catch up with us quick if that’s the case, but I’m just hoping that I’m wrong and these newer assassins are just dumb.” Hyejoo fidgeted with the gun in her hands, nervous that they were away from their sister.


	6. THE PROTECTORATE

Yerim slowly woke up to all the noise. At first, she forgot where she was until she lifted up her hand to see a needle there connected to an IV bag. Yerim groaned as she got up and took the needle out. Swinging her legs off the bed, she slowly stepped off to almost falling over from being lightheaded.

“Vivi?” Yerim called out to the obvious empty lab. She was hoping the tinker had left some automated message and was relieved when Vivi’s voice came through.

“Attack in the shop. Get up. We’re getting out.” She heard Vivi’s simple message through her communications. 

“What?” Yerim mumbled under her breath in confusion at what was going on since the last time she’s been awake.

Yerim walked over to a table and picked up her fixed blade, placing it behind her waistband. Picking up her gun with the blade attachment, she checked the magazine to see someone had reloaded it for her. She silently thanked them, threw on her jacket, and headed out towards the noise.

The scene was a mess as Yerim entered the bakery. Guns from the ceiling had been deployed and shooting at a bunch of people. She quickly shot a man in the leg as he came for her and scanned the area to see Vivi in front of Yeojin and Heejin, trying to block them from the attacks.

“Go out back!” Yerim yelled over the chaos. She shot at people that got too close and ran over to her friends.

Vivi nodded and gestured for the two behind her to exit as she and Yerim covered them.

The bakery looked destroyed. There was blood and bodies everywhere. They took one last glance at it before pushing the back door open and exiting with the rest of their group.

“What the hell is going on?” Yerim followed Vivi’s quick steps through the alley. “Where are my sisters? Are you guys okay?” She had so many questions having been out during the whole ordeal.

“Your sisters are heading to Eden with Jinsol and Chaewon after picking up your car.” Vivi signaled for the group to stop as she saw people at the end of the alley and motioned for them to continue on walking when they passed. “People are going crazy and attacking others for no reason. I don’t know right now, but I might have an idea. As of right now, it seems like the only way taking them down is shooting them in the head and I rather kill them than have them kill me so,” her voice trailed.

“So you’re just killing anyone now?” Yerim still didn’t get what was happening. She was a mercenary, but it didn’t mean that she went around killing innocent people.

“I’m killing people who are attacking me and my family.” Vivi took a glance back at the group. “Nothing makes sense, but all I know is that I would protect you guys over anyone else.”

Yerim nodded in agreement seeing the scared look in her friends eyes. She was about to reply when a clawed hand came for Vivi’s back. Yerim shoved the pink haired woman to the side as Yeojin and Heejin ducked instinctively.

“What the hell?” At the end of the alley stood the black and white slender man looking android that she fought before. Yerim glanced at her friends. “Get to Eden. I’ll meet you there.”

“Yerim, no,” Heejin said firmly and grabbed her arm.

“The assassin is after me. I can’t fight him having to worry about you guys too.” The android was walking towards them as they ran out the other side of the alley.

“It’s too dangerous to split!” Vivi lead them away from the android.

Yerim took a look behind to see the assassin speeding up. “It’s more dangerous sticking together if that thing decides to just kill all of us! Now go!”

Vivi looked hesitant before taking off her metal belt as it came together to form a long sword. She handed it to Yerim who took it thankfully.

“You’re one of the only good things left on this earth.” Vivi grabbed the back of the younger girl’s neck and pulled her in for a quick hug. “Stay alive, Yerim.”

Yerim nodded and watched as her friends ran farther away to somewhere hopefully a little safer. She turned around to see the android had slowed its steps to now walking towards her with its bladed right arm by its side ready to attack.

“She really just gave me a sword from her belt,” Yerim mumbled under her breath before swinging it to the right as the blade retracted into the handle. She placed the weapon in a pocket within her right sleeve.

The android raised up its left arm and Yerim wasn’t going to wait around to see what was going to come out of it, so she turned the other way to run as fast as she could.

Pulling out her inhaler, she took in some enhancers since she was recovering from getting shot in the shoulder. The wound was closed, but she still felt fairly weak from the injury. No matter how advanced technology was, it still took time to heal from a gunshot wound.

Spotting cars ahead, Yerim went to each one to try to see if any were unlocked. It was wishful thinking to think anyone around here would not lock their vehicle in a high crime city like the one she lived in. Going to the last car at the corner of the street, she saw the reflection of the android behind her in the window. Yerim moved to the left and ducked as its claw broke the window, sending glass flying everywhere.

Yerim didn’t have time to stand up when the claw came back for her, forcing her to roll out of the way. She quickly got up to her feet and fired her gun back at the approaching android. It raised up its bladed arm to block the shots.

“Not good. Not good,” Yerim repeated before starting to run again. She wasn’t the only one though as she could see other people around doing the same.

The city was a mess with what was going on.

She didn’t get far when the claw shot out again, this time, grabbing her right shoulder where a bullet went through earlier. Yerim didn’t cry out in pain since the enhancer kicked in, but she knew it was going to hurt later. The claw retracted back to the android, dragging her along. Aiming her gun back, she fired aimless shots hoping to do any damage, but it seemed futile.

Yerim pulled the sword handle out and hid it in her hand. Reaching the assassin, she pointed the handle towards it and shot out the blade, hitting the android in the neck, it impaled itself in between the metal plates. The claw let go of her and she wasted no time to stand up and run back to the car with the broken window. Unlocking the vehicle from the inside, she cleared the glass off the seat and got in.

“Come on, you got this,” Yerim said to herself as she started to hotwire the car. She looked up to see the android pulling out the sword from its neck. “Come on, come on.” Her hands were filled with blood from the cuts she got from the glass and it was making the process harder.

Yerim heard the engine start and stepped on the accelerator. She passed the android as it ran after her with long strides. Although she wasn’t feeling any pain, her right arm shook unsteadily from the damage it was taking even before fully recovering.

The car Yerim in wasn’t as fast as hers, but she knew how to maneuver it in ways other people couldn’t. Drifting onto another street, she looked in the rear view mirror to see the android skidding on its feet as sparks flew from underneath at the sharp turn. She couldn’t get it off her tail no matter how hard she tried.

Yerim never cursed, but she couldn’t help the cuss words that came out of her mouth when something shot at her car, causing it to stop abruptly. The sudden brake made her body propel forward and hit her head on the steering wheel.

“Get out of the car with your hands up!” Yerim heard as she groaned from the impact. The pain was starting to set in as the enhancer wore off.

Yerim shook her head, not sure how she was going to get out of this predicament. At the moment, she thought it was better to be arrested than killed by an assassin, so she opened the car door and stepped out. Placing her feet onto the ground, lightheadedness took over as she fell to her knees.

“I said hands up in the air or I’ll fry you!” The officer shouted through his helmet that made his voice sound almost robotic. 

Protectorate didn’t shoot to kill most of the times. They sometimes shot out a different projectile that would fry everything on your shard. Everything programed on there would be deleted including a person’s communication, augmented reality, and other mods.

Yerim looked up to see three protectorates with their guns drawn. Right as she raised her hand, a shot was fired. She flinched at the sound, but the bullet didn’t hit her. Hearing a loud thud from behind, she looked back to see the android on the ground with its claw two feet away from her back with a failed attempted to grab at her. They had fired an EMP jammer, stopping the android like how they stopped her car. 

The shouting officer approached with two others following closely behind. “Well, what do we have here?” The man let out a laugh. “Seems like we’re getting promoted today for being the ones to kill one of the Triplets.”

“Can’t believe I’m seeing one right in front of my eyes,” another officer laughed along.

Yerim glared up at the man from her knees. “Stupid name when we aren’t even triplets.”

The first man growled and brought down the butt of his gun onto the side of her head. Yerim body slammed into the car as she sat there with her head in her hands. She was waiting for more hits, knowing brutality from the law was common, but instead, she heard the man yell out in pain before collapsing by her feet.

“What are y—,” the second officer didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence as he too, fell to the ground.

Yerim looked up at the last officer who had their weapon pointed down at their own comrades. The officer walked in front of her and bent down to her eye level.

“Doc said you needed help,” the female voice spoke.

The officer pulled off her helmet to reveal a woman with short dark hair.

“Haseul,” Yerim said with a small laugh from relief. “It’s been too long.”

The woman smiled at her. “It really has been. You don’t look so good, love.” Haseul placed her arm under Yerim and slung the purple haired girl’s arm over her shoulders before helping her up.

“I’ve been better,” Yerim groaned. “What are you going to do about them?” She nodded at the unconscious officers.

“Doesn’t matter, my cover is blown, but it would have happened sooner or later with what’s going on.” Haseul walked Yerim over to the passenger seat and sat her down in it before going to the front of the car. She used some device to take off the EMP jammer and got into the driver’s seat.

“I’m sorry you had to come for me.” Yerim put on her seatbelt with shaky hands.

Haseul started the car and started to drive. “Like I said, either way, it’s not like I could have stayed in this job with the current situation. The city is close to going on lockdown. Everything’s so chaotic that nothing makes sense anymore.” She glanced over at Yerim and sighed. “Even if we weren’t in this situation, I still would have come for you.”

“I know.” Yerim frowned already knowing Haseul would have put herself in danger to save her life. 

“You have enhancers on you?” Haseul asked having seen Yerim rubbing at her shoulder.

“Yeah, but I’m trying to use it sparingly. Doc came out with a new toy.”

“I heard. Shame I had to keep using my standard ones the protectorate handed out though, but now that I’m free.” The short haired woman shrugged bittersweetly.

Haseul worked her way from being a policewoman to getting promoted to the protectorate team that dealt with higher risk jobs. She wanted to help with the crime filled city, but knew going in, the law was flawed like how everything else was. Working with the triplets, Vivi, and the rest of her friends who worked outside of the law, she was able to help take down more criminals than her job would ever allow her to.

“I need to call my sisters.” Yerim reached up behind her ear.

“Communication is down right now, but I’ll send a bird to Doc.”

Haseul and Vivi talked through a design that the tinker made. It looked like real birds, but they were just a cover for a program Vivi had placed in there. When they couldn’t talk through regular calls, they used that to transfer information back and forth with each other.

“Police up ahead.” Haseul gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Seems like they’ve blocked off more than I was informed. I could use my badge and you could play prisoner, but if my guys got up and called me in, then it’d be all bad news, though if we make it passed, it’d be an easier shot from there.” Haseul slowed down the car, listening in on the general line of communication between the protectorates to find another way out. “Seems like the longer way to Eden is the last place they’re blocking. We should get there before they do.” She turned onto a different street, heading away from the police.

Yerim shook her leg in nervousness of not knowing what was going on with her sisters and their friends.

Haseul took a glance over. “Hey, I got some first aid stuff in my kit.” Reaching down to one of the pouches on her uniform, she unzipped one and motioned for Yerim to take what she needed. “Clean your hands. We don’t know when we’ll find proper care, so you don’t want them to get infected.”

“Thanks.” Yerim did what she was told and took some things out of the kit.

“There’s water in my hydration bladder.” Haseul pointed at a nozzle that was attached down her shoulder. “You just press the button and it should spray out.”

Yerim nodded, unclipping the nozzle and washed her hands onto the car floor. She held the medical items in her left hand and used her teeth to rip the packages open before cleaning her wounds and wrapping them up.

“At first, we thought this whole situation was work done by some retaliation group or a cult or something, but this has to be something else.” Haseul slowed down the car again seeing a bunch of people up ahead. “But Doc called saying it could be connected to one of those inhalers I found on Cecilia?”

“I have no idea. I think I was out when everyone got updated on that because I just woke up to the bakery in chaos.” Yerim furrowed her eyebrows looking out the window to see people running around. “I still don’t know what’s going on.”

“People are attacking random people like they’re crazed or something. We were ordered to kill them after they wouldn’t go down,” Haseul explained.

Yerim turned to the short haired woman. “What do you mean?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like it means. I shot a guy four times, twice in the chest and both of his legs. He was still trying to crawl at me until another officer came and just shot him in the head.”

“And Doc thinks it has something to do with the new inhalers?”

Haseul nodded. “I saw the same inhaler off another dead body one of my supervisors picked up. It’s going by the name of ‘silver lining’ on the streets, SL for short.”

“Chaewon says that’s all they’re selling these days. Everyone’s hopping on for medication that’s the same price, but double the dose.”

“Could be that too. Maybe there’s no connection at all, just the mass buying the product.” 

They made another turn to see people on the streets, blocking their way. There was fighting going on, but more people were just running everywhere.

“We gotta get passed them to get to Eden.” Haseul was driving the slowest speed to think of a way to get through.

“There’s no cars around with this crowd. Might have to go on foot.” Yerim didn’t like the idea, but it seemed like the only option.

“Or I co—,” Haseul’s words were cut short when someone reached into the broken window and grabbed for her. “Hey, let go of me!”

The man reeled his arm back to strike, but before he could, Yerim pulled out her weapon and shot him in the shoulder. 

Haseul stepped on the accelerator and looked back to see the man running after the car. “If someone attacks, just kill them. It’s our lives over theirs right now. I don’t think the law matters in a situation like this anyways.”

“We’re going to have to get out.” Yerim looked ahead as they were approaching a crowd.

Haseul stopped at the corner of the block and started to take off her armored uniform to hand to Yerim.

“No.” Yerim stopped Haseul from what she was doing. “Even if I wanted to, I’m too tired right now. It’ll just slow me down.”

Haseul bit her lip, hating the fact that her friend was going to go out in this chaos with no protection. “Now would be a good time to use the enhancers then.”

Yerim took hers out and took two puffs of different enhancers, one to keep focus and the other was to stop the pain that was shooting down her right arm.

“Ready?” Haseul asked after taking her own.

Yerim nodded as they both stepped out of the car.

Haseul turned around and shot the man that was running after them in the head, then started to run along the stores so that they weren’t out in the open.

“Help!” Another man was on the ground, getting dragged by a woman who looked more android than human.

They felt so conflicted at the moment. There were more than just this one person that needed help, but they couldn’t help everyone.

Haseul shook her head in disappointment in herself when she ran passed.

“It’s survival of the fittest now. There’s no use dwelling over it,” Yerim said, knowing what her friend was thinking because she was thinking the same but had to shake the feeling off.

“I know.” Haseul continued running and gunning down anyone that ran towards her with that crazed look in their eyes.

They were close to getting passed the crowd of people when someone shot at Haseul, making her stumble back, but not causing much damage with her protective uniform. She quickly found the source of the attack and fired a shot to his leg as he fell back.

“You protectorate scum!” He managed to yell out on the floor. “Protect the citizens!”

Haseul scoffed. She was used to being called names since many people didn’t like the way law enforcement worked. There were flaws in the system, but she did the best she could for the people even when they took attacked her like that.

“Stop right there!” They heard as they rounded the corner.

Two policemen were ahead to their right, walking towards them with their weapons drawn.

“I’m a protectorate. I have identification,” Haseul yelled back with her hands up, blocking Yerim from their view. “Could I reach into my pocket?” It wasn’t unheard of for others to steal uniforms and weapons in messy situations, so one could never be too sure who was who.

“Drop your weapons first!” One of them shouted from a distance.

Yerim heard a snarl as a tall man sprinted towards them with a bladed mechanical arm. Without thinking, she raised her weapon and fired before he could reach them. In an instant, Yerim fell to her knees, feeling electricity run through her body. It didn’t hurt much, but it still stung and she had no control over her movements. She collapsed on the ground after hearing several shots being exchanged back and forth as the shock stopped after a few long seconds. Yerim looked up with uneven breathing to see Haseul kicking the taser weapon out of the hand of one of the officers that was now on the ground along with the other. Haseul quickly stripped one of them of their bulletproof vest and ran back to Yerim.

“Hey, hey, you need to stay awake.” Yerim heard Haseul’s voice, but it sounded far away. She was helped up to a sitting position as Haseul threw the vest over her head and secured it. “Are you okay?”

Yerim shook her head to clear her mind. “This day isn’t going so well.” She groaned as Haseul once again, placed an arm around her waist to help her stand up. “Enhancers working great though,” she half joked about all the damage she was taking. “Haseul,” Yerim then whispered out.

“Yeah?” Haseul adjusted their position so that it was easier to walk.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Yerim barely managed to get out when she bent down to the side and spilled the contents of today’s breakfast out onto the street. The taser was too much for her system even with the use of the inhaler.

Haseul didn’t even have time to respond as she fired two shots ahead at people that were running towards them with weaponized arms out. “Yerim, I’m sorry, but we have to keep moving.” She looked behind at more people starting to fill the streets.

Yerim nodded, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve and tried to keep up with the pace.

“The bird,” Haseul murmured getting an alert that a message was coming. Not long after, a little white bird landed on her shoulder. Putting a hand next to the realistic looking animal, it dropped a tiny device from its beak. She placed the device into her ear and listened.

Vivi’s voice sounded through the message. “Where the hell are you guys? You need to get to us asap. We just got word that the bounty has hit 7 mil and we all know what that means.” She heard Vivi sigh before saying, “please stay safe.”

Haseul silently cursed. “Bounty’s up to 7 million,” she informed Yerim.

“This is just great.” Yerim let out a small laugh from frustration. “I don’t think I could even go up against a regular assassin right now, let alone if one of the seven comes after us.”

7 million was the price it took for a group of well known assassins to participate in on a bounty. The Triplets were good, but they were more mercenaries than trained killers.

Haseul bit her lip at the thought of having to worry about another thing when it seemed like everything was already going wrong. “I need to send them back a message.”


	7. STRANGERS

“We had to take the long way since the main road was blocked. We’re still some distance away, but the path seems better than what we just went through.” Vivi took out the earpiece after listening to the message from Haseul.

“Are they okay?” Yeojin asked from the backseat of a car they stole.

“I think so. Haseul didn’t say anything other than how they might take a little longer.” Vivi looked in the rear view mirror to see the small girl with a worried look on her face. “They’ll be fine, Yeojin,” she tried to reassure.

“You think Eden will be clear for long?” Heejin asked from besides Vivi. “Those people just came from nowhere.” She shuddered thinking about how it was just a normal day working at the bakery when people just came crashing in with no other intention than to hurt others.

“I don’t know. Hopefully with that part of the city blocked, those people don’t get through or is at least under control.” Taking another turn, Vivi spotted the high security gym that was Eden.

Parking the car, the tinker got out first to check if the coast was clear before motioning for the other two to exit the car. They quickly ran to the heavy doors, pressed the bell, and looked into the camera to be identified. Once the other side confirmed who they were, they were buzzed in. 

They were greeted by the sisters, but before they could say anything, Vivi spoke first. “I didn’t want to tell you over the call that Yerim got separated from us. I sent Haseul to go get her and they’re together heading over here now.”

“What?” Hyunjin said in disbelief that her sister wasn’t with them. “Well, you should have told us right when our line of communication got back up.” She started walking for the exit with Hyejoo close behind.

Vivi stepped in front of her. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you guys. Stay put, they’re coming here.”

“Yerim’s out there when the bounty is at 7 million. 7 million, Vivi!” Hyunjin raised her voice and tried to push passed. “How the hell did you guys lose her?”

“There was an assassin, the android you guys fought from before.” Thinking about it now, it sounded horrible that they just left her like that, but Vivi knew that Yerim was right. It would have been more dangerous if they were together for the android to gun after.

“And you just left her there?” This time, it was Hyejoo who was yelling. The youngest sister reached the door when she was grabbed back.

Heejin had a hold of Hyejoo’s arm. “You think we’d really leave Yerim like that if we had a choice?” She felt guilty for leaving her friend behind, but staying could have endangered all of them.

Hyejoo was about to say something back when she was interrupted. “Enough,” came another voice. They turned to see a brunette at the bottom of the stairs. “Is now really the time to be fighting?”

“Jungeun.” Vivi looked over to see the brunette woman with tired eyes.

The said woman placed a hand to her temples and tried to rub away a headache. “The police scanner reported a rogue protectorate. I’m assuming that is Haseul.” She then crossed her arms and then scanned the group. “I have no idea where Jiwoo and Sooyoung are, but they should be listening onto the scanner too. I tried getting a message out to them that Yerim might need help, so let’s just hope they got it and that everyone’s safe.” Jungeun let out a sigh and started walking back up the stairs. “Jinsol’s fine by the way. Stitched up her leg, but she’s fine.” And with that, she was out of sight again.

Vivi turned her attention back to the sisters to see their eyes on her.

“Sorry,” they all said at the same time.

“No, really, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.” Hyunjin shook her head and walked over to the tinker and gave her a hug, burying her head in the crook of the smaller woman’s neck. “I’m really glad you guys are okay,” she mumbled.

Vivi nodded, hugging back and gave the oldest sibling a kiss on the head. “No, I understand. We’re all stressed right now.”

Soon, they were all exchanging hugs and words of comfort before walking up the stairs to enter the room Jungeun was in.

Jinsol was sitting on a bed of a room that looked like an actual apartment on the upper level of the gym.

“You guys good now?” Jinsol asked about the obvious argument that was heard from downstairs.

They all muttered words and then went over to ask if she was okay.

“So I’m really not racing tonight huh?” Jinsol then shook her head after Vivi explained what had happened to her shop and that part of the city.

“If you need money, I can always help.” Vivi readily had her wrist up.

Jinsol gave the woman a look. “Why do you keep offering when I know you’re not well off too.”

“Because you guys have family.” Vivi glanced over at Chaewon who was talking to Yeojin and Hyejoo at a corner of the room. 

Heejin frowned. “You’re our family too.”

“I know that, it’s just—,” her voice trailed thinking about she was used to being alone until all of these people who she now considered closer to her than her own blood came into her life. “I just want you guys to have one less thing to worry about.”

Jinsol nodded, understanding how they all tried to help each other out in a world where the rich stayed rich, and the rich made sure the poor got poorer by raising prices on medication. 

Two doses every day from an inhaler to keep symptoms at bay, but they sometimes skipped doses in order to save on money and that only caused their health to be more at risk. The elite rich had a cure, though it was out of reach for everyone else that could barely even afford an inhaler that only lasted about a month. Those who couldn’t buy medication would just die off in about two weeks, but it was of no concern to the rich.

“You said this whole situation could be some like rage virus from the inhalers being sold right?” Jungeun asked Vivi.

They were all now back downstairs for Jinsol to sleep off a headache she was getting from banging her head from the fall.

“That’s just a theory. They could totally be unrelated.” Vivi leaned her back against the cage of the octagon ring they were sitting in.

“We still should check it out though.” Hyunjin didn’t like the idea of going back out, but they couldn’t do anything from inside. “Seems like it’s just that part of the city that’s not contained and people still need medication, so it’s probably still being sold everywhere.”

“Is that really a good idea with the bounty out?” Chaewon asked as she gripped tighter onto Hyejoo’s hand.

Hyunjin fidgeted with her fingers, trying not to worry about Yerim and Haseul who still haven’t arrived. “Nothing’s a good idea at this point, but we need to figure out what’s happening since we all know the people that’s supposed to be protecting this city aren’t shit.”

“Hyunjin’s right.” Jungeun let out a sigh. “Even if these inhalers have nothing to do with what’s happening with the city, they could still have something to do with the bounties though. There’s too many rumors going around about how no one wants the Triplets to touch the distribution of this ‘Silver Lining’ medication. The people of this city really think this is the hope they’ve been searching for.”

Their conversation was interrupted when they were alerted that someone was at the door. They all looked at each other before standing up.

“Stay here, I’ll go check.” Jungeun gestured for everyone to stay put in case it wasn’t their friends. She checked the camera by the entrance and frowned. “Who the hell are these people?”

There were two women who were pounding at the door, looking scared as they kept turning around to check if anyone was behind them.

“I think they need help,” Jungeun said, turning around to tell the others. 

“They’re making too much noise.” Vivi stood up and walked over to look at the camera. “I don’t want to let them in, but if we don’t, they might attract unwanted attention.”

“What if it’s just a trap? They could be anyone.” Heejin nervously drummed her fingers lightly on her crossed legs.

“There’s eight of us and two of them, and right now, if unwanted attention comes our way, we’ll have to leave the place.” Jungeun looked back to see her friends nodding in agreement to let the strangers in. She pressed a button and spoke into the device by the door. “Faces up to the camera,” she instructed.

The two women turned around with frightened looks on their faces.

“Please let us in! Please help us!” They heard voices of panic coming through.

Jungeun exhaled loudly from frustration and hesitantly pushed buttons for the locks and pulled the heavy doors open.

The two women ran in as Jungeun closed the door back up. 

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” A woman with long dark hair said approaching. 

“Stay back!” Jungeun commanded, pushing Vivi behind her. “We don’t know you, so just stay back for a minute.”

The rest of the members were out of the octagon ring by now. They were standing far, being cautious of the newcomers.

“What are your names? Do you know each other?” Jungeun asked, looking between the two.

The same woman who spoke first, spoke again, “My name is Suyeon.”

“I’m Yoobin,” the woman with short hair introduced herself. “We don’t know each other. We were just trying to get away from those people that have gone crazy.”

“Please, we just want a safe place to stay and wait this out.” Suyeon took a step forward.

“I said, stay back!” Jungeun raised her voice. “You see those chairs over there?” She nodded her head to some by the entrance. “Go sit over there.”

The two looked over and did what they were told.

Jungeun and Vivi walked back to the rest of the group.

“Seems like we can’t stay at this place forever with what’s happening.” Jungeun placed a hand behind her ear to try to see if she could reach the rest of their group again. “Still can’t get through to any of them, which means they’re not even within the area.”

“We’re staying until they arrive though right?” Yeojin asked in a hushed tone, worried about being separated.

Jungeun sighed. “Let’s hope they reach us before the chaos gets here.”

“Could I use the restroom?” They all turned their attention to the short haired woman who was now standing up.

Juneun stared at the woman. “No,” She replied before going back to their conversation.

“Please, I really just need to use it quickly.” The woman’s eyebrows were scrunched together in desperation.

Jungeun shook her head in annoyance and then pointed at a door farther in the gym.

Yoobin smiled thankfully and started to walk towards the group to get passed them. “I’m quite disappointed by how easy you guys have made this,” she said in a low tone when she got closer.

Vivi’s mechanical eye saw the projectile coming at Chaewon as her right arm instinctively came up, grabbing the shuriken dart that was inches from the blonde’s neck. She growled and quickly threw it back, but Yoobin ducked and ran for the other woman by the door.

Suyeon screamed out in panic, not knowing what was going on as she was grabbed and placed in front of Yoobin with a knife to her throat.

The short haired woman smirked as guns were raised up at her. “Seems like I didn’t miss afterall.” She smirked and then broke out into a wide grin.

“Jungeun!” Hyunjin called out, watching as the brunette fall down to her knees. She rushed over and grabbed her friend to keep her from toppling over.

Hyejoo stepped forward with her gun up.

“Hey, hey, I don’t think so. You don’t want to kill some random innocent person right?” Yoobin held Suyeon closer to her as the woman cried in fear. “You’re going to let me walk out of here.” The attacker reached her arm behind and started to unlock the door. “I could have killed you all so easily, but that’d be no fun. We raised the bounty to 7 million in hopes of a challenge, so I would like it if you guys could put up a better fight next time.” She smirked again before opening the door. Before she stepped out, Yoobin slid the knife across the woman’s neck and pushed her forward.

Hyejoo now ran for the door.

“Don’t!” Hyunjin yelled out as she helped Jungeun to sit down.

The youngest sibling placed her gun back in the holster in frustration and walked towards the woman that was bleeding out. Suyeon was reaching up, asking for help, but Hyejoo knew it was useless. “I’m sorry.” She bent down and held the woman’s hand until she took her last breath and walked back to the group.

“Jungeun!” They heard Jinsol’s voice from the top of the stairs. Chaewon ran to her sister to help her down. “I couldn’t do shit.” They knew she was aware of the situation when it went downhill, but didn’t want to distract them when she wasn’t able to provide assistance. 

“I’m going to have to pull these out.” Hyunjin was in front of Jungeun as the woman rested her back against Heejin who sat behind her for support.

“I’m so annoyed right now,” Jungeun groaned out, trying to keep her breathing steady and nodded for Hyunjin to proceed.

Hyunjin looked at her sympathetically. “Sorry.” She gripped the shuriken dart in her friend’s left shoulder and pulled it out quickly. 

Jungeun clenched her teeth, trying not to yell out in pain as Heejin held her in place.

Hyunjin threw the sharp weapon on the ground as Jinsol took a towel and pressed it onto the wound. “Ready?” She had her hand around another one that was in Jungeun’s stomach.

“Yeah sure.” Jungeun was sweating and gripped onto Yeojin’s hand tighter. She couldn’t hold it in and yelled out this time. “I sh— I should have listened to my mom and not open the door for strangers. Haseul tells you not to open the door for strangers right Yeojin?”

The smaller girl nodded.

“That’s good. Listen to your sister.”

“This is our fault.” Hyejoo stood up and glanced at Hyunjin. “We shouldn’t be here. I’m sorry.” She rarely cried, but at that moment, she couldn’t help but feel at fault for putting her friends who were practically her family in danger.

“Stop.” Jungeun reached a hand up for Hyejoo who took it and bent back down to be at the brunette’s eye level again. “There are seven of them and three of you guys. I’m helping whether you guys like it or not.”

Everyone spoke up and nodded in agreement.

“And it’s more than just the bounty now,” Jinsol said referring to the city’s current situation. “We protect each other.”

Before anyone else could speak, a slam at the door jolted their attention to it.

“Now what?” Vivi stood up and walked over to check the cameras again. She frowned at what she saw. “The protectorate are here taking those crazed people down. I don’t know whether it’s better to leave now while we still can or wait to see if they can keep this contained.”

~

“They had to leave Eden and are heading north, just north ‘cause they don’t know where it’s safe,” Haseul relayed the message over to Yerim. “We should go another way since they said the protectorate are now in that area.”

“We’re still not in range of them?” Yerim didn’t want to admit out loud that she was exhausted, but she wanted to keep going before the distance between them and her sisters were too far.

Haseul shook her head. “I’ve been trying, but I can’t seem to get any calls through.”

They’ve been walking through the streets just like everyone else was. There were abandoned cars everywhere, making it difficult to get anywhere even if they hotwired a vehicle.

“This happened way too fast.” Haseul glanced to her right to see people looting a store and others being attacked some distance from them, but she couldn’t do anything about it. “We had it under control, but then these people, we kept getting calls about these crazed people popping up around the city. What the hell is going on?”

Yerim stopped walking instead of answering. “There’s a woman staring and smiling at us up ahead.” She gripped onto Haseul’s wrist. “That dreamcatcher design on her jacket isn’t just for decoration is it?”

They didn’t wait to see what she wanted and both turned around to go the other direction only to see a man charging at them. Jumping out of the way, the man skidded in between before snarling, but before he could try to attack again, Haseul shot him in the head, killing him instantly. They looked back, but the woman was no longer there.

“Shit, the gun attracted attention!” Haseul saw others running towards them now as they started to sprint. She then shot another one in the chest that jumped over the hood of a car with her mechanical legs.

The woman tried getting up when Yerim ran passed, shooting her in the back of the head while she was still on the ground.

“There’s too many of them!” Yerim shot another and another. “Haseul!” She shouted, seeing the short haired woman being tackled down by a tall man with claw like hands.

Changing her gun to her left hand, Yerim slipped a weapon from her sleeve and extended the sword out from its handle. She slashed an attacker that was getting too close to her and shot her gun at the man that was on top of Haseul at the same time.

“Duck!” Haseul yelled out as Yerim did what she was told.

Another man went tumbling over her and got up quick, swinging his arm at her, but she blocked it with the sword and shot him under the chin.

Yerim caught a glimpse of the woman in the dreamcatcher jacket again in the corner of her eye before she was shoved against a car.

A shot was fired, but it wasn’t from one of their weapons. The man that had Yerim pinned to the car fell over dead.

The two of them looked at each other confused, but took the opportunity to run. People ahead that were coming at them were dropping down like flies with a bullet through their heads.

An incoming call notified the both of them as they pressed behind their ear to answer.

“Turn left,” the voice instructed.

They ran onto a street that was more filled with people than the last.

“I got you guys. Just keep running towards that soccer mom looking van at the gas station.”

Haseul grabbed onto Yerim to pull her closer as they sprinted as fast as they could. People around them got close, but never touched them as they were gunned down.

Before they could reach the car, bullets rained onto the vehicle, forcing the driver to get out to reveal a tall woman with long dark hair.

“Sooyoung!” Haseul called out seeing the source of the gunfire belonging to the woman with the dreamcatcher jacket.

Sooyoung had her own gun as she fired her rifle back, but missing when the assassin ducked behind cars.

“Hurry!” Sooyoung yelled as she kept shooting in the same direction.

Haseul ran and slide the backdoor open, making sure Yerim got in before stepping in herself and slamming the door shut. Sooyoung quickly got into the driver’s seat and didn’t waste any time to drive off.

“Are you guys okay?” Sooyoung asked, glancing back at her friends from the rear view mirror.

“Yeah, we’re great,” Haseul answered sarcastically and checked over Yerim for injuries.

“I’m fine.” Yerim wasn’t fine, but she’s been through worse. “I’m really glad to see you, Sooyoung.”

“It’s good to see you too, kid. You too, Haseul.” Sooyoung drove through a street that wasn’t as blocked off as the last. “Let’s hope these fuckers hasn’t swarmed where Jiwoo is at.”

“How’d you know we were here?” Haseul asked, taking the water nozzle from her suit to pass over to Yerim who took it thankfully.

“We got a message from Jungeun. It was one sided though ‘cause we couldn’t get through to her, so we have no idea where she is or if she’s even okay.” Sooyoung gripped the steering wheel tighter. “We only knew the direction you guys were heading so Jiwoo got up high to scan while I drove around.” She exhaled loudly. “We got lucky.”

“Jungeun is with the others. They’re heading north because Eden is now a danger zone,” Haseul repeated the message she received. “They didn’t say anything else, so I’m hoping everyone’s alright.”

Haseul saw Sooyoung’s shoulders relax a little and heard a sigh from the still open line that connected them to Jiwoo.

“Thank god,” Sooyoung muttered under her breath. “We got separated from her and,” her voice trailed, “and we got that message, but couldn’t reach her anymore after, and we just— we just didn’t know if she was okay,” her voice was laced with worry as she rambled on. “And now she has no idea what happened to us.”

Yerim swallowed the lump in her throat, understanding how stressful it was worrying over not knowing where their loved ones were.

“I just sent a bird out to Doc,” Haseul spoke, resting a hand on Sooyoung’s shoulder out of comfort. “Once we get that back and know their situation, I can send another to let them know that we’re together.”

“Guys,” they heard Jiwoo’s voice through the communications. “Don’t head this way. I went out the back. Meet me at the hotel on 5th. There’s too many of them over here now.”

“What? No, we’re close, Jiwoo. We’ll just come and get you.” Sooyoung turned onto the street that led to Jiwoo only to see it crowded with people.

“No, we’re meeting at the hotel. I’m already heading towards there.” They heard Jiwoo say in between breaths as she ran for the location.

Sooyoung growled in frustration and swerved onto a different street that got her farther away from Jiwoo. “Circle around if we’re not there by the time you’re at the hotel. We’ll be there in 4 minutes.”

“Got it.” Gunfire sounded off as they flinched from the sound, not sure who it was coming from.

“Jiwoo, be careful.” Sooyoung turned right to get back on the road to get to the destination. “Jungeun is waiting.”

More gunshots were heard. “I know.”

Sooyoung looked through the rear view mirror. “Keep an eye out on her. We might catch her before reaching the hotel.”

“It’d be easier if she was taller,” Haseul mumbled, looking out at the people running around the city.

They were getting closer, but there was no sign of Jiwoo. “Shit, where is she.” Sooyoung tried to drive fast but carefully as she scanned the area.

“Watch out!” Yerim yelled seeing a man sprint head on for their van.

Before Sooyoung could swerve, the man’s body crashed down to the right and went skidding on the streets.

“There she is.” Sooyoung looked into the opposite direction of the man falling to spot a woman with bangs and a sniper rifle that looked too big for her.

Jiwoo ran while shooting at people that came for her and yanked the door open as she reached the van. Slamming the door shut, she took a moment to catch her breath before speaking, “Cardio is really important, guys.”

“That headshot while sprinting says your cardio is fine,” Haseul reached over to pat Jiwoo on the arm.

Jiwoo turned around in her seat. “Haven’t seen you in ages, Unnie.” She looked over to Yerim. “Bounty’s up to 7 mil, but the contract isn’t open since I didn’t get an invitation.”

“Good to know that you won’t try to kill me.” Yerim stared out the window, hating how she was separated from her sisters when a group of assassins that were known to manipulate bounties were after them.

“That’s not funny, Yerim.” Jiwoo glared and then sat back in her seat. “No amount of money would make me betray you.”

Yerim sighed knowing that her friends would risk their lives for her and her sisters. “I know.”


	8. TROUBLE

“The protectorate couldn’t contain it in your area, what makes you think they could contain this one?” Hyunjin questioned, helping Jungeun out of her shirt. “We need to clean and bandage your wounds quickly. We don’t know when it’ll be too late to get out of here.”

“Yerim and Haseul are supposed to meet us here, and I know Sooyoung and Jiwoo will try to come back to the gym.” Jungeun kept pressure with the towel on her stomach as Vivi cleaned the shoulder wound that has stopped bleeding.

“I can send a bird to Haseul, but I don’t have ways to the other two.” Vivi only had a tracker for Haseul in the bird. She didn’t want to risk having more than one person on the line in case the device was compromised. “Sounds dumb, but all you could do is leave a note in code somewhere for them and hope they find it.”

Jungeun bite her lip when Vivi threaded the first needle through the open gash to stitch it up. “I can’t just leave here without knowing they don’t have any ways of communicating with us. They won’t be able to find us. I can’t,” she repeated out of desperation.

“Jungeun.” Vivi got her friend to look at her. “You’re in no condition to stay here and we shouldn’t separate even more. The best thing you could do is try to stay alive for them. Leave a note on the door and we’ll try to reach them on the move.”

Jungeun hesitantly nodded and then took the towel off of her stomach for Vivi to clean. “I’m going to slow down the group.

“You and me both, buddy.” Jinsol limped over, trying not to pull the stitches from her leg.

“Does that mean I could drive your car?” Chaewon asked with her hand raised.

“No,” Jinsol and Vivi spoke in unison.

Chaewon dropped her arm. “Geez, when did you two become my parents?”

“Since I feed you at the bakery all the time.” Vivi finished with the stitches on Jungeun’s stomach and Hyejoo handed her a t-shirt she got from the upstairs room.

The small blonde shrugged at the seemingly reasonable answer.

“I think Jungeun unnie should go in Jinsol’s unnie car since she’s injured and I don’t want the possibility of an assassination attempt on us.” Hyunjin handed Jungeun a water bottle who took it thankfully.

“Two injured people in one car though?” Jinsol questioned since she wasn’t sure if the both of them could run far if they had to abandon the car.

“Vivi and Yeojin should go with you guys too,” Hyunjin said, trying to see which combination would be the best. “Heejin with us. The less people with us, the better.” She knew that Vivi was their best option to go with Jinsol’s group since she was the most equipped to fight.

Jinsol drove ahead while Hyunjin kept close behind in case something were to happen. They were heading towards an abandoned warehouse the members would go to for different kinds of training. It was a place where the sisters grew up in after the discovery of the gym, which mainly catered to troubled kids who came in to learn how to protect themselves from the dangers of the city.

“Haseul should have sent the bird by now,” Vivi spoke from the passenger seat, checking the time through her augmented reality she could see presented before her eyes.

“Maybe the distance between us is getting farther since we’re on the move.” Jinsol turned onto a clear street and hoped the rest of the ride was smooth.

Yeojin shifted in her seat from the back. “Do you think they’re okay?” She didn’t get to see her sister often since she was always working and it made her even more uneasy that they haven’t seen each other in a couple of days.

“They have to be. We have to believe that they’re okay, so that we can focus on getting our group to safety.” Jinsol checked the rear view mirror to see that Hyunjin was still behind them. “We’re almost there, so let’s hope we can use that place for at least a while.”

They arrived shortly with any trouble and parked their cars in the warehouse, closing the heavy garbage doors to keep anyone from getting in.

Hyejoo tapped behind her ear at the first sign of an incoming call before anyone else could and spoke after hearing a voice. “Open the doors.”

Hyunjin who had just closed off the warehouse looked over at her sister and then did what she was told.

A beat up van came towards them and parked besides their own cars.

The first person to step out was Jiwoo from the passenger side. “Jungeun!” she yelled at the sight of the other woman.

Jungeun looked up, eyes widened, and shot up from the couch, only to fall back down, groaning in pain.

Jiwoo frowned and ran over. “What the hell happened?” She helped Jungeun to sit up properly and looked her over before pulling her into a careful hug.

Jungeun felt another pair of arms as she took her head off of Jiwoo’s shoulder to see Sooyoung hugging the both of them. Overwhelmed with emotion, Jungeun let out a small cry and held on tighter. “I didn’t know if you guys were okay,” she softly mumbled.

“We’re okay,” Sooyoung reassured and then pulled away. “You on the other hand, where are you injured?” She pulled at Jungeun’s shirt before the woman could answer.

Jungeun let her do as she pleased, knowing Sooyoung wouldn’t stop fussing if she didn’t look over her wounds. “I’m fine. We had a small run in with one of the seven.”

“A small run in?” Sooyoung questioned and scrunched her eyebrows in concern seeing that blood had seeped through the bandage on Jungeun’s stomach. 

“We had a minor run in as well.” The three turned their attention to Yerim who was standing close to her sisters.

Sooyoung pulled Jungeun’s shirt back down and kissed her on the head. “It’s like they’re taunting us.” She took a seat to her right, with Jiwoo on Jungeun’s left.

“We need to be careful. We protect our family and should view everyone else as a potential threat,” Vivi said, taking out supplies from her backpack.

Hyunjin pulled Yerim over to another couch that was across from the other. “Let me see your hands.”

Yerim winced as the gauze was taken off to reveal deep cuts in her right hand while her left one was in better shape.

“Could you please stop getting hurt.” Hyunjin cleaned up the wounds and put on new bandages.

“Easier said than done when the android I bashed in came back.”

“And it could come back again since whoever it belonged to could have went to retrieve it,” Haseul spoke up with her arm around Yeojin’s shoulders. “It’s getting late and we should rest, but we need groups of twos to patrol in case anything happens.”

“I’ll stay on the roof,” Jiwoo volunteered as the sniper. “The injured should rest.” She pulled Jungeun in closer with the brunette’s head on her shoulder.

“I got the front.” Hyunjin glanced over at Heejin. “Stay with me?”

Heejin nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’ll keep you company.”

“I’ll go with Jiwoo for the first shift. I think four of us is good enough. Everyone else should rest.” Sooyoung kissed Jungeun’s head again and stood up.

“You should stay with Jungeun,” Jiwoo said, getting off the couch to get her sniper rifle.

Jungeun waved her off. “I’ll be fine.”

Jiwoo hesitantly nodded and went off with Sooyoung to climb the ladder to the roof. They circled up top, making sure no one was around the area.

“We’re going to have to go out and get food and supplies some time,” Jiwoo stated after seeing that they didn’t have much on them except for what the group could carry in their cars.

Sooyoung stretched out her tired muscles as she walked around. “Splitting up doesn’t sound like a good idea, but we’re gonna have to. I don’t want to be apart from Jungeun again though.”

“I know, but we don’t have a choice.” Jiwoo exhaled out of worrying about tomorrow. “One of us should stay here with her. She seemed a bit too stressed not knowing where we were, so I think it’s best if we don’t leave her alone.”

“I should have tried to get to her instead of running.” Sooyoung shook her head, thinking back to when they got split up. She was lucky to find Jiwoo, but Jungeun was left on her own.

Jiwoo gave Sooyoung a look. “You did what you had to do, so stop blaming yourself. We just have to be there for her when her anxiety kicks up.” 

Sooyoung stopped walking and looked up at the night sky. “You ever think of retiring?”

“All the time.” Jiwoo sighed at how their lives have turned out. “Once this is all over, I think we should try to convince Jungeun to stop with the mercenary work. She makes enough money selling weapons and fixing up cars. She doesn’t need the extra stress.”

“You really think she’d let us go on our own for every mission? You say you want to retire, but I know you won’t. I’m satisfied just working at the gym, helping out people who need help, but you,” Sooyoung paused before continuing, “you’re too good at what you do. A kid like you growing up to be one hell of an assassin. I worry that you won’t stop until you’re dead.”

Jiwoo bit her lip knowing that Sooyoung could be right. She was known for taking out high profile criminals and killing other assassins that threatened her, but didn’t want to think that it was impossible for her to leave the job. “If you or Jungeun asked me to, I think I’d be able to quit. You know I’d do anything for you guys right?”

Sooyoung gripped the rifle in her hands. “We’ll talk about this once this is over okay?”

Jiwoo nodded, but quickly turned her attention to the noise that was heard down below.

They hurried over to the ledge where the noise came from as Jiwoo set her weapon down to look through the scope. “There’s a car approaching.” Jiwoo tapped behind her ear to get in contact with the team below. “Are you guys seeing this from the west?”

There was some shuffling before Hyunjin answered, “They’re getting out of the car.”

“They’re probably looking for a place to stay or something. Should I fire a warning shot to say this place is occupied?” Jiwoo asked, aiming near the two men that were walking towards the warehouse.

“Go ahead.”

Jiwoo shot between the men, near their feet as she watched them run back to their car, hiding behind the doors.

“Hey!” The man behind the driver’s door shouted. “We don’t want any trouble!”

“If they don’t want any trouble, then can they stop yelling at the top of their lungs?” Sooyoung mumbled.

Jiwoo fired another shot and they finally scrambled back into the car, driving off.

“Guess that’s the drill if someone else comes around,” Hyunjin said, walking back to her spot with Heejin and turned off the call once Jiwoo said they were clear.

“It’s weird how this is the most we’ve talked in a long time.” Heejin sat with her back against the wall as Hyunjin took a seat next to her.

Hyunjin glanced over at her friend. “I guess with how things are, with the price of medication rising and the need for more jobs, it’s just harder to have a normal life.”

“You only ever visit the bakery when you or one of your sisters are hurt.” Heejin rested her head back. “Every time you leave, I wonder if it’ll be the last time I’ll see you.”

Hyunjin exhaled and switched her gun to the other hand to take hold of Heejin’s free one. “I can’t tell you anything that’ll make you feel better.”

Heejin let out a bitter laugh. “You and Yerim and Hyejoo, you all talk the same. You all talk like it doesn’t even matter if you die. Chaewon calls me in the middle of the night sometimes you know. She tries to be strong, but even the strongest are haunted by nightmares.”

“I told her I don’t want her involved in any of this, but she keeps saying she wants to help.” Hyunjin looked over at the small sleeping blonde that was tucked in Jinsol’s arms.

Heejin turned to Hyunjin to get her friend to look at her. “It’s not her working to get those shit inhalers off the streets that’s giving her nightmares, Hyunjin. It’s when you call late and she has no idea where you are. One minute, one hour, it scares her nonetheless and she won’t admit it to you, but you need to talk to her.” She gripped Hyunjin’s hand tighter. “Especially now with that bounty out. We can’t predict what’s going to happen, so it’s better to talk sooner rather than later.”

Hyunjin sighed hating that Chaewon felt like she couldn’t talk to her, but she couldn’t blame the blonde when she herself was bad at opening up. But before she could answer, another incoming call from Jiwoo alerted her as she answered it.

“That car is back,” Jiwoo informed over the line. “There’s another car with them that’s driving around to the other side.”

A loud explosion was heard, followed by gunfire.

“What the hell was that?” Hyunjin yelled, running to the side where the noise was to check out what was happening.

Heejin went to wake up the members who were all sleeping close to one another.

“They’re trying to throw grenades up here. I’m shooting to kill.” Jiwoo fired another shot at an incoming object midair before it could land on the roof and watched as it exploded. She ducked down at how close that one was and went back immediately to get rid of the attackers.

“Two down, two more to go,” Sooyoung announced from the other side of the roof with her own weapon.

Jiwoo shot a man that was about to throw another causing him to fall with the grenade, exploding himself and a woman up. “Clear.”

Sooyoung scanned the area before saying the same thing, “clear.”

“Too much noise. We’ll stay up here in case the crazies heard,” Jiwoo said over the line of communication.

“No, we’re sending two up to take your place. You guys should try to get some rest while you can,” Hyunjin replied back.

Chaewon and Hyejoo volunteered since they weren’t as tired.

“You know what’s weird?” Chaewon asked as she looked through the scope of the gun to see her friends down below, getting rid of the bodies.

“What?” Hyejoo replied from the other side of the roof.

“Jungeun has been training me, but I never thought I’d put those skills into use for this type of situation.”

Hyejoo glanced at her friend who had her back faced towards her. It was strange to see the small blonde with a giant sniper rifle. “What type of situation did you think you’d be in then? A mercenary job? An assassin?” The words came out harsher than she would have liked.

“I’m just saying it’s strange to be up here with you as the look out.” Chaewon gave out a sigh. “You all treat me like a kid, but I’m older than you. You can’t just lock me away in some room selling weapons ‘cause you’re too afraid I’m some fragile doll that will just break.” She was glad Jungeun trusted her enough to put her in charge of her business while she was away, but at the same time, she knew it was to keep her out of trouble.

“It’s not that we think you’ll break. It’s that we know you’ll break.” Hyejoo readjusted her numb legs before continuing, “all of us on this job, me, my sisters, Jiwoo, Jungeun, Sooyoung, we’ve all been broken and that’s why we can be who we are and do what we do. We don’t mean to make you feel like you’re weak, because I know you aren’t. But I don’t want this life for you.”

“Things would have been different if Haseul wasn’t in the protectorates huh?” Chaewon said off topic, but she understood what Hyejoo meant. She remembered back to when her life went downhill. Her sister was in the middle of a breakdown that could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the short haired woman.

Hyejoo clenched her eyes shut from the memories. “What happened to your parents was awful. If I was in your shoes, I don’t know if I could have been strong like Jinsol, but no matter how blinded she was by revenge, you know her love for you is greater right?”

Chaewon swallowed the lump in her throat. “I know. And I can’t thank Haseul enough for taking down those bastards before Jinsol could. I don’t think I would have made it if my sister was in prison or dead in some ditch.”

“I guess given the circumstances, anybody could lose control.” Jinsol was the softest person Hyejoo knew, but the woman turned to a completely different person when she had to watch her parents die right in front of her eyes. She hated seeing the most caring person destroy her own life out of pure rage.

“How do you do it then? I’ve seen you guys during your worse and it seems like you just come out stronger.”

“I don’t know if it’s being strong. It’s more like we try to numb ourselves of the pain I guess, but it doesn’t always work does it?” Hyejoo thought back at what her sisters and friends have gone through. “One day, Jungeun came back from a mission and she was never quite the same. Did they ever say anything to you?”

Chaewon shook her head. “No. All I know is that she gets antsy when she doesn’t know where Sooyoung and Jiwoo are at, like to the point it gets hard for her to breathe. I saw Jinsol trying to calm her down in the room back at the gym. I don’t think she’s coping well with whatever happened.”

“None of us are really good at talking are we?” Hyejoo asked, but it was more of a rhetorical question than anything. She then tapped behind her ear. “Yeah?”

“The sun is almost up. We should plan to head out soon,” Haseul informed over the line.

“Got it,” Hyejoo answered and looked out to see the sun about to rise.

Haseul turned off the call and glanced over at Vivi. “You think the bird got caught?”

Vivi adjusted some things on her mechanical arm. “That’s a possibility or something jammed its signal and now it’s just lost.”

“I don’t like the idea of some of us going out with no way to communicate with the team back at base.” Haseul was trying to calculate in her head which members should go out for a supply run.

“It’s crazy how much we’ve relied on technology that we can’t seem to function without it.”

“It’s our whole lives. It’s hard to think back to a time when we didn’t have these things.”

Vivi looked down at her own hands, one mechanical, the other human flesh. “Sometimes I feel more android than human,” she admitted. “I mean, more than half of myself is robotic. Sometimes I wonder if my feelings are really mine or if they’re just things I’ve programmed.”

Haseul turned to see Vivi staring at her. The right side of her face was mechanical, while the eye on the flesh side swirled a mixture of blues and purples. “No one could program what you feel, Vivi. You’re as human as any of us.”

“Am I?” Vivi questioned, slightly raising her voice. “Because I feel like I’m losing control, that I’ve gone too far with these augumentions that I don’t know how to stop. I know I did what I had to do in order to survive back then, but now, I’m just changing myself because I hate who I see in the mirror.”

Haseul bit her lip and pulled her friend into her arms. Half of her body was warm while the other half was cold to the touch.

“Tell me I’ve gone too far, Haseul. Tell me to stop.” Vivi felt like crying, but she didn’t. She wasn’t even sure if she could.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you. I haven’t been there for anyone and I could blame it on my job, but the truth is, maybe I didn’t want to come back home. Maybe I wanted to forget my responsibilities for a little while, because I wanted to be selfish for once.” Haseul rested her head back against the wall. “But being alone made me realize how much everyone felt the same. I can’t tell you to stop, because that’s something you have to do on your own, but I can tell you that I love you no matter who you are and I don’t want to see you hurting yourself anymore.”

Vivi squeezed her eyes shut. “I’ve missed you, Haseul. I miss the days we were able to tell each other everything, but even sitting this close to you, I feel like we’re miles apart.”

“I never meant for things to be like this, but they are. I can’t change the fact that I was a shitty friend, but I’m here now and I want to fix all of these relationships that I’ve messed up.” Haseul glanced at her sister who was sprawled out next to Yerim. “Thank you for taking care of Yeojin.”

“The brat is very much my sister as she is yours now.” Vivi sighed at the thought of how much Yeojin has grown up over the years. 

“I’m glad she had you when I couldn’t be there for her. I’m sorry I threw that responsibility over to you.”

Vivi shook her head. “We’ve all taken turns taking care of each other, so there’s no use apologizing when we both feel enough guilt already.”

“I’m sorry anyways.”

“Me too.”

Haseul stood up and stretched out her legs. “We should wake everyone up.” She walked over and carefully shook Sooyoung’s shoulder, who had Jungeun tucked in her arms and Jiwoo on the other side with her face buried in Jungeun’s back.

“Ramen with kimchi sounds really good right now,” was the first thing Sooyoung said as soon as she opened her eyes.

“I mean, we do have packets of ramen, just no kimchi.” Haseul rubbed Jiwoo’s back, knowing she always had a hard time getting up in the morning. “You should change Jungeun’s bandages.”

Sooyoung nodded and carefully stretched, trying not to move Jungeun too much because of her injuries.

Once everyone was up, they all gathered on the couches and floor around a small table that was off to the side in the warehouse. Hyejoo and Chaewon were still up on the roof in case something happened, but they left the call open so they could discuss today’s plan.

“Triplets and the injured should stay here,” Haseul started the meeting.

“You should stay here too. You’re a rogue protectorate. They could be looking for you right now,” Hyunjin pointed out.

“I can go out,” Jiwoo said with her hand raised.

“No, you stay here. I can go,” Sooyoung insisted instead. They had agreed one of them should stay with Jungeun, but they didn’t discuss who it was going to be.

Jiwoo gave Sooyoung a look but didn’t argue back to not make a scene.

Vivi was already standing. “I’m going.”

“Me too.” Chaewon volunteered from the roof and spoke again before anyone could protest. “I’ve been training almost every day for this, so let me contribute.”

Heejin grabbed Yeojin’s hand down before it could raise. “It’s just a quick run right?”

“It should be. We have enough food for a few days, but it’s better to go earlier when things aren’t as hectic right now.” Sooyoung ran her thumb over the back of Jungeun’s hand before letting go. “I’ll be back before you know it.” She then glanced at Jiwoo who was seated besides the small brunette.

Jungeun frowned. “Don’t say things like that. You can’t predict things.”

Sooyoung bent down to get eye level with a seated Jungeun. “We won’t go far. We’re just gonna get basic supplies and come back as soon as we can, okay?” She tucked Jungeun’s hair behind her ear before placing her hand behind the brunette’s neck, pulling her close to kiss her on the forehead. 

“Be careful,” Jungeun mumbled as Sooyoung nodded, standing back up.

Jiwoo stood up as well and grabbed the front of Sooyoung’s jacket to pull her in for a hug. “I’m going out for the next supply run,” she said in a firm voice. “If there’s trouble and you have to run, get the team and run. This isn’t a paid mission. This is survival, you got it?”

Sooyoung nodded again. “Take care of each other,” she quietly spoke, looking over at Jungeun.

“I’ll make sure she eats.” Jiwoo held up a granola bar in her hand as everyone else was eating a quick breakfast as well.

“Are you guys ready?” Sooyoung asked the other members.

They all replied confirming they had everything they needed to head out as Sooyoung walked over to the van and got in the driver’s seat. Vivi took the front passenger seat while Chaewon and Heejin got in the back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting kinda lazy to update on here since it's a bit quiet, so chapters might come slow, but you can always catch up on in on twitter


	9. KILL SWITCH

“Seems like some stores are actually still open.” Vivi scanned the area to see several neon lights on. She then pointed to a place. “Sandwiches should be fast. It’s the closest thing anyways.”

Sooyoung parked the van right in front of the shop and then turned around in her seat. “Jinsol doesn’t let you drive her car, but this isn’t her car, so wanna be the getaway driver?” She asked Chaewon, who was already trying not to grin.

“Of course.” Just like her sister, Chaewon had the need for speed and loved driving. She hasn’t participated in many races like the Odd Eye Circle auto shop crew, but she knew she was good.

Sooyoung tossed her the keys and stepped out of the car while Chaewon didn’t even bother getting out. She just stepped over the middle section and got into the driver’s seat.

“Heejin with me. Vivi, stay with Chae.” Sooyoung opened the back door for Heejin to get out. “How are you holding up, kid?” She asked with her hand on the smaller girl’s back.

“I’m just glad we were able to all find each other.” Heejin didn’t want to admit that she was more scared than she showed. Much like many of her friends, most found their way to each other through the Eden gym. Jiwoo and Sooyoung were good at taking in troubled kids that needed another chance in life and it was something that they were able to give back to Heejin.

Sooyoung went to pull the door, but it was locked. Looking inside, she saw a woman in her late 20’s, early 30’s with a shotgun. Sooyoung raised her hands to show that she wasn’t there to cause trouble and was buzzed in a few seconds later. She opened the door and went in first, making sure Heejin was mostly hidden behind her.

“Are you open for business?” Sooyoung asked with her hands still raised. “We have credits to pay for food.”

The woman lowered her weapon and placed it on top of the counter. “What do you want?”

“Uh.” Sooyoung looked at the menu to see half of it had been torn off, much like how most of the store looked trashed. “12 combinations, peppers on the side, one with a ton of extra onions.”

“Scan your wrist over this.” The woman pointed to a device next to the cash register.

Sooyoung paid for the food without looking at the price. “You’re still open even during all of this chaos?”

The woman clicked her teeth as she washed her hands to start making the sandwiches. “It’s either I die by one of those wannabe zombies or I die not being able to pay for my medication right? I don’t know which is worse.”

“How are you going to make money when no one is here?”

“Well, you’re here, aren’t you?”

“Valid point. Do you have family?” Sooyoung gestured for Heejin to sit down on one of the booths that were still intact. She was asking questions not only for small talk, but to make sure the other woman knew that they weren’t a threat and vice versa.

“Only reason why this store is still open. Do you have family?” She asked back. “12 seems like a hell of a number of sandwiches unless you’re just stocking up.”

Sooyoung shrugged. “Sometimes family are the people who choose to be by your side.” She glanced at Heejin who gave her a sad knowing smile.

“I hear you on that. Sometimes blood is just as scum as the trash on the streets.” The woman let out a bitter laugh and started packing some of the food into a paper bag. “I would say you guys are lucky then if you’re willing to risk your lives being out here for some sandwiches.”

“You could say that.” Sooyoung looked out of the shop when she heard Vivi talking over the open line.

“Better hurry. We’re laying low, but there’s some people walking close by and I’m not sure if they’re one of the crazies or not,” came Vivi’s hushed voice.

“We’re almost done,” Heejin answered as she stood up from her seat.

“Do you know if the grocery stores have been raided or are they still open?” Sooyoung asked the shop owner.

The woman shrugged. “I’ve been keeping my distance from bigger stores, but there is a smaller one down the street to the right. It didn’t have many customers even before this, so maybe it’s still empty now.”

“Thanks.” Sooyoung stepped forward to grab the two bags of sandwiches. “Thanks for the food as well. We’ll be on our way now.”

“There’s a person coming from your left when you step out,” Vivi informed, looking through the side mirror of the van.

Sooyoung handed the bags over to Heejin. “Get in the car.”

They pushed the door of the shop open as Heejin ran for the van. At the same time, the man to the left started running towards them as well. Sooyoung pulled out her pistol, calmly twisting on the suppressor and waited for the man to get closer. He came snarling at her but was thrown back when she pulled the trigger, causing his body to crash down a few feet away from her. Sooyoung then got into the car as Chaewon drove off.

They stopped shortly at the corner of the street where a small grocery store was up ahead.

“I think it’s better if I go in to see what medical supplies they have,” Vivi spoke up from the front seat. 

“I think it makes more sense if I stay in the car in case unwanted people lurk around right?” Sooyoung reasoned, knowing it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to have two inexperienced members together.

Chaewon unbuckled her seatbelt. “I can go in.” She figured she was never going to get the in real life experience she needed if she passed on this opportunity.

“You promised Jinsol you were going to be careful, so you’re not going to try some ninja moves right?” Sooyoung knew Chaewon was a good fighter, having trained and sparred with her many times at the gym, but she also knew how ambitious her friend could be. “I also don’t want your sister to kill me with those bladed arms so I’d appreciate it if you were careful, plus I kinda really like you.”

“This isn’t sparring where I know I’m safe. I know none of you guys have had experience with me on missions, but I swear I’ll be careful,” Chaewon reassured. “And I really like you too, dork.”

“That’s all I ask for.” Sooyoung smiled, got out of the backseat and took her place back as the driver. “You go in there and grab as much as you can, but I want you two out there in under 5 minutes, you got that?”

They both nodded and started to make their way towards the small grocery store. Vivi got to the front door, only to find it locked. Using a small window breaker that was installed into her mechanical finger, she broke the glass as quietly as possible and unlocked the door from the inside.

“Medical supplies first,” Vivi instructed and led them to the back of the store while checking to see if the coast was clear.

They stopped at a gated and locked section where all the supplies they needed were. Being a hacker, Vivi easily assessed the code to unlock the gate and stepped in to get what she needed. Chaewon stayed just outside of the area to keep watch.

A noise in a back room to the right of the store made Chaewon whip her head in that direction. “We might have company,” she spoke quietly into the open line. She held her pistol up and aimed it towards that direction as Vivi rushed to pack the supplies.

Chaewon watched as the back door was slowly pushed open. “Someone’s coming,” she whispered. 

The door slammed open the next second and out came a tall man with half of his face torn off. He took a step forward and snarled at Chaewon, but didn’t get any farther when she sent a bullet between his eyes. Another man came out of the room behind the fallen one, a bit shorter but more muscular. He jumped over the body and sprinted for Chaewon. The small blonde fired two shots, one missing a headshot that only grazed the side of the man’s face as she moved out of the way when he came for her. 

Now with places switched, Chaewon’s back was towards the door the man came from. He tried coming for her again when his body collided with a shelf to the left instead from the impact of Vivi’s gun.

“The place is starting to swarm,” Sooyoung informed over the call, followed by gunfire just outside of the store. “Get out of there.”

Before they could answer, a woman’s voice from behind Chaewon spoke. “Hands up, drop the weapons.” She felt the barrel of a gun at the back of her head.

Chaewon silently cursed and gave a look to Vivi who had her hands up. Vivi nodded at her as Chaewon followed the instructions and bent down to drop her gun. She kept her eyes on Vivi to see her doing the same with her weapon.

The woman grabbed Chaewon by the shoulder, the gun now to the side of her head. “Empty your pockets. I want to see your wrist lighting up green to transfer me all your credits.” She waved the gun around now, gesturing to different pockets on Chaewon’s jackets where supplies could be.

“Please, we don’t have much.” Chaewon turned slightly to beg, but was kicked behind the right leg, causing her to fall to her knees.

“Empty your pockets!” The woman yelled again.

“Hey, hey, don’t hurt her. She’s just a kid,” Vivi pleaded with her hands raised up.

“Shut up!” The woman lifted her gun to aim it at Vivi, but it was a mistake on her part.

Chaewon was waiting for that moment as she sprung up, grabbing the woman’s arm with both of her hands and at the same time, kicking the woman’s legs from under her as she came crashing down to the floor. Chaewon skillfully disarmed the woman’s gun from her grip and aimed at the fallen attacker.

“Stay down!” Chaewon yelled as the woman tried getting up. “You should have just stayed put.” She was used to being underestimated and used her innocent look to her advantage, but Chaewon wasn’t someone to be taken lightly when she was trained by the best.

Sooyoung’s voice came through the line again. “You have 30 seconds. I’m assuming you got things under control, so hurry the hell up!”

“We’ll be out in 10,” Vivi replied and motioned for Chaewon to go out first after throwing the woman in the locked gate in the back.

There wasn’t an answer as they heard more gunfire from outside. Sooyoung was just outside of the car and had switched to her rifle, making the noise of the gun attract more unwanted attention, but it was the only way to get rid of attackers faster.

Heejin was inside letting Sooyoung know if anybody was coming from directions the woman couldn’t see. She then saw a sprinter coming at a distance from the front, but a slam on her door caused her to scream out in surprise instead. A man by the door rammed his head against the window, cracking it as blood poured out of his forehead, dripping down his face. He was about to repeat the action when he was suddenly yanked back.

“Attacker 3 o’clock,” Heejin’s voice shook slightly as she informed Sooyoung of the sprinter from earlier. She stared out of her window to see Vivi with her foot on the man’s chest and Chaewon putting a bullet through his head.

They both got into the car after Heejin unlocked it and called for Sooyoung to get in.

“Are you guys okay?” Sooyoung asked, looking through the rear view mirror as she drove off.

Vivi nodded. “We got a bunch of stuff, plus another gun, so I would say that was a good run.” She patted Chaewon on the shoulder and gave it a squeeze before pulling the blonde into a short side hug. “The way you played that off reminds me of Jiwoo,” she commented.

Chaewon had on a small smile. “I did learn those tactics from her after all. A deadly puppy, she would call herself.”

Vivi couldn’t help the laugh that escaped from her mouth. “Did she really call herself that?”

“I called her that. She just thinks she’s cute or something by overusing that term now.” Sooyoung rolled her eyes thinking about how Jiwoo knew she was cute.

“She just likes annoying you,” Heejin joked, but her smile quickly turned into a frown.

It’s been a long time since all 12 of them were together and Heejin hated how their reunion was only possible through a crisis like this. They were joking around like nothing was wrong, but everything was wrong. They were constantly under attack and no one was sure when it would end or if there was even an end to it. Heejin was grateful that they were all together now, but at the same time, she was afraid they’d be split again if the world decided to turn back to normal. It was bittersweet to have her family back only under these circumstances.

“You okay?” Sooyoung glanced over at Heejin, who was now blankly staring out the window as the others talked.

Heejin gave out a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yeah, as okay as I can be.”

Sooyoung sighed and held her hand out. Heejin looked at it before placing her own hand on as Sooyoung gave it a squeeze. “We got each other, right?”

Heejin studied Sooyoung’s side profile to see how much skinner the woman has gotten since the last time she has seen her. “Of course,” she replied. Heejin was thankful that their group had someone like Sooyoung. The woman was a mix of playfulness and overprotectiveness, but cared for them like an older sister that it made her a comforting presence.

A weak signal that someone was trying to call alerted them as they got closer to the warehouse. They picked up to hear static on the other line until Haseul came through a little clearer.

“There’s been the same cars coming back and forth around the area,” Haseul informed them. “They might be from the same group as last night.”

~

“Jiwoo,” the redhead heard Jungeun say over a call the whole team was in as she kept watch on the roof with Yerim.

Jiwoo hummed in response.

“Vivi checked the dead bodies last night, but their shards were fried,” Jungeun stated something everyone already knew.

Shards held a person’s information, cyberware, and often times had the last recordings of the carrier’s life through their own eyes. This was used as a way to see moments before their death to figure out what happened or just as a review of what their day was like.

“What’s your point?”

“They must have had a kill switch.”

Jiwoo scrunched her eyebrows at the term. “Normal people don’t just install kill switches.”

“That’s my point.” 

“What are you guys getting at?” Yerim asked, not really following in on the conversation.

“There’s a group of suicide attackers that work under a cult like assassin group called ‘Kill Switch’. When these attackers like the ones last night dies, their shard automatically fries, erasing their identities and everything else on there,” Jiwoo explained, shaking her head at the thought of having to deal with a group of maniacs. “But why would they attack if the bounty contract isn’t open? They won’t be paid anything if they take you guys down.”

“Maybe it’s not even them. It could just be a copycat. That’s not unheard of, but it’s a possibility, so that’s why I’m bringing it up,” Jungeun spoke over the line.

“How would they even know we’re here?” Haseul questioned.

“The thing is, if this is the work of Kill Switch, then they have eyes everywhere. They could have been following us for some time back.” Jiwoo exhaled loudly. “And their group of followers, they’re not trained assassins. They’re just nobodies looking to follow some stupid ass cult, which makes them all the more dangerous. They don’t care about their own lives, so they’ll do anything to reach their goal.”

Shuffling on the other side could be heard until Hyunjin spoke. “But like you said, the contract isn’t open.”

“Again, if this is Kill Switch, then the first batch that attacked could have just been scouting us out. Maybe they’re just waiting for the contract to be open,” Jiwoo reasoned. She then turned to Yerim. “Maybe you should head back down. Send someone else up here.”

“A bit too late for that.” Yerim didn’t take her eyes off the scope. “One car incoming.”

“Yerim, go down,” Jiwoo firmly commanded.

“And send who? I’m the best shot,” Yerim argued back, knowing Jungeun could have easily replaced her, but she didn’t want her injured friend to be moving too much.

Jiwoo growled in frustration seeing another car heading on her side of the warehouse. “One more incoming.” She took aim and fired, but the glass didn’t shatter. “Normal people don’t have bulletproof windows,” she muttered. “Haseul, get everyone in the cars in case we need to evacuate.” 

“Already making our way into the cars,” Haseul replied. “I’m ending this call to try to reach Sooyoung.”

“Don’t!” Jiwoo shouted. “I see the van, just connect that team in.”

Sooyoung’s vehicle was trailing some distance away from the attacker’s car.

“Another car heading this way.” Yerim aimed for the front wheels this time and was able to shoot at a tire, making the first car swerve out of control.

Jiwoo did the same, shooting at the tires as the car jerked, causing the grenade that was thrown out of the car to explode at the side of the van rather than being a direct hit. “Sooyoung, keep your distance. They have bulletproof glass,” she instructed once that team connected to the call.

Sooyoung did what she was told and backed off, keeping a safe distance.

The cars all stopped as they got closer to the building and out came the attackers, guns blazing and ready to throw more explosives.

“Get in the driver’s seat, Chae,” Sooyoung said as she opened the door.

“No, you can’t go out there!” Chaewon argued, tugging at the woman’s arm.

“She’s right,” Vivi agreed. “I’m going out there instead.” They all turned to look at Vivi. “I have a shield mod and I kinda installed an illegal firearm.”

Sooyoung raised her eyebrow but didn’t protest as Vivi stepped out of the car.

Vivi didn’t exactly hide herself as she ran for an enemy that was facing her. The man grinned and fired his weapon in her direction.

“Stupid,” she muttered under her breath and threw her shield mod up as the bullets ricocheted off. 

With the man distracted by Vivi, Jiwoo took the opportunity to snipe him down. She then took her weapon and ran to Yerim. “Vivi has that side covered, now, go!” She wasn’t taking no for an answer this time.

Yerim nodded hesitantly before taking off to get back down into the warehouse. She ran for her car with her sisters inside. Right as she shut the door, an explosion on the roof shook the warehouse. Yerim held her breath and was about to leave the car again when she saw Jungeun running for the ladder, but Haseul grabbed her back before she could get far.

“Let me go!” Jungeun shouted. “Jiwoo! Answer me!” She yelled over the call.

“Get back in the car. I’ll get her.” Haseul looked up to see Jinsol by her side, taking a hold of Jungeun’s arm.

“No, no, I need to get to her,” Jungeun stammered in panic.

“Jungeun,” Haseul called out, but the woman wasn’t hearing it. “Jungeun!” She yelled louder this time as the brunette snapped out of the daze. “You’re no use to Jiwoo if you end up getting hurt even more, now get back in the car.” She didn’t wait for an answer as she raced to get up to the roof.

“What’s happening?” Sooyoung asked as she drove the van. “Jiwoo’s line just got disconnected.” She tried to stay calm. “Jungeun?”

“Sooyoung,” Jungeun’s voice came out uneven as fear took over.

“Jungeun, you need to breathe.” Sooyoung hated being so close, yet so far that she couldn’t comfort Jungeun. “I’m almost there, just hang on.” She watched as Vivi took out the last attacker from that car and waited for the van to get to her, stopping right outside of the warehouse.

“Other side.” Vivi nodded her head to the vehicles farther from them.

“Open the door,” Sooyoung said to the other team and carefully motioned for Chaewon and Heejin to get out of the van. “Go in and lock the door.” She made sure they went in before following Vivi, but as the attackers came into view, the remaining two enemies ran back into their car and drove off.

Vivi turned off her shield mod and aimed her arm at the car. She fired rapid rounds until the vehicle spun out of control, crashing into a boxcar on the side. They ran for the enemy as Vivi pulled the driver’s door open and yanked the man sitting inside out of the car. Sooyoung did the same to a woman in the passenger seat.

Vivi stepped her mechanical foot on top of the man’s chest as he struggled to get away. “Stop squirming or I’ll crush your lungs,” she threatened with a growl.

The woman below Sooyoung didn’t dare to move with the barrel of a rifle shoved in the her mouth.

Haseul’s voice came through with their hearts pounding. “Jiwoo’s fine. The blast must have knocked her out for a second and disconnected the call.”

Sooyoung let go of the breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. “Got any handcuffs, Haseul?”

The short haired woman came out of the warehouse shortly. “Throw them in the shed.” She gestured to a small attachment that was in the back of the building.

Vivi yanked the man up to his feet and pushed him forward while Sooyoung kicked the woman until she stood with her hands up.

There was a pole in the middle of the shed as they handcuffed the two together.

“Now, let’s see what we have here.” Vivi bent down and reached to the side of the man’s neck to take out his shard, but as she went to eject it, she pulled her hand back at a sudden small shock. She stepped back when the man started to spasm and foam at the mouth before he stopped moving altogether. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that.” She felt his pulse and looked up at Sooyoung and Haseul. “Dude’s dead.”

“Jiwoo, you know anything about this?” Sooyoung asked knowing the younger woman was back in the group call.

“I—,” Jiwoo started. “Sorry, I should have warned you about that,” she answered through gritted teeth.

“Are you okay?” Sooyoung glanced at Haseul, who told her Jiwoo was fine.

“Yeah,” Jiwoo replied, but Sooyoung wasn’t so convinced. “You can try to plug the other person into the laptop we have to see if you can get info through that or I can go out there and make them talk.” Jiwoo wasn’t only an assassin, but she was also known for her interrogation methods.

“Yeah, you’re not going anywhere,” Jungeun opposed of the thought of Jiwoo wanting to go interrogate someone after she just survived a blast. She reached her hand up to the side of Jiwoo’s face and pulled back to see red. Blood was running freely from the redhead’s right ear. Jungeun took in a deep breath and snapped her fingers to the right side of Jiwoo’s head. “Can you hear that?”

Jiwoo closed her eyes shut and sat down on one of the couches. “Not really.” She opened her eyes again to see Jungeun’s concerned face. “I can barely hear on my right and my left sounds like I’m underwater,” she admitted that she wasn’t completely alright.

“Jiwoo?” Sooyoung called out through the line. “You said you were fine. Don’t say you’re fine when you’re not,” her voice came out angrier than she wanted it to sound.

“Your friend not doing so well?” The blonde woman that was handcuffed asked with a grin. “That grenade sure did hit close.”

“Shut up!” Sooyoung yelled and grabbed the woman by the collar, shoving her back. At that moment, she regretted heading straight for the warehouse instead of circling the premise for the cars. She wondered if it would have even made a difference.

The captured attacker only laughed at Sooyoung’s anger. 

“Alright, we’re gonna plug this bitch in and see what we got.” Vivi stepped forward after retrieving the laptop and USB cable. “But first.” She reeled her left arm back to send it crashing onto the other woman’s face, shutting her up as she spat out blood. “You’re really starting to piss me off.” Vivi shoved the woman’s head to the side and plugged the cable in her neck, below the shard.

“Go to Jiwoo.” Haseul patted Sooyoung’s shoulder to get her to stop pacing.

Sooyoung gave her friend a look and nodded before heading back to the warehouse. She entered to see everyone over at the couches and quickly made her way to Jiwoo’s side.

“Hey,” Sooyoung softly called out. She reached up to where Jiwoo was holding a towel over her right ear to see the damage and winced at the blood that was slowly dripping.

Jiwoo only gave her a small smile and allowed herself to be pulled into a hug.

“We can fix this,” Jungeun said while Hyunjin was taking out the torn stitches in her stomach to put new ones in.

Hyunjin glanced up, knowing what Jungeun meant. “Doc’s place is too far. It was the first place to go down in this mess,” she tried to persuade the brunette to think about the situation.

“With Jiwoo barely being able to hear and Jungeun ripping out her stitches with simple moves, how far do you think we’ll get without proper care?” Sooyoung hated to agree with Jungeun’s dangerous idea, but they won’t last long in this condition.

“Let’s talk after Vivi and Haseul get more info.” Hyunjin wiped at the blood that was coming out of Jungeun’s reopened wound.

“Recordings are still intact but are encrypted.” Vivi typed a few things on the laptop.

“You really using a laptop when you could just directly plug the cable into yourself?” The woman asked with a bloody smile. “Or are you afraid of getting hacked?”

Vivi looked up with no amusement on her face. “The day someone like you could hack me is the day the world ends.” She pressed a few more keys until a screen popped up. 

Haseul bent down next to a seated Vivi to get a better look. Vivi rewound the recording to see everything the woman before them saw previously. It went back to the attack and to the car driving on the road, but all of a sudden, the screen turned black and a whole new setting popped up. It showed a dark room with a masked person in a hooded black jacket at the center of the room. 

They gave each other a look before Vivi pressed play.

“I see that you have captured one of my angels,” a female voice came from behind the neon mask with x’s for eyes and stitches for a mouth. “How rude of me. Please let me introduce myself. My name is Exy, leader of Kill Switch, though I would like to point out that we were once called Cosmic Girls, but that didn’t sound as threatening,” the woman laughed loudly and put on her hood. “Tick tock, tick tock. Time is running out. You all better run and hide, because there isn’t a doubt that luck isn’t by your side.”

Vivi and Haseul looked back at the handcuffed woman as she laughed along with the masked leader.

“Tick tock, tick tock,” the woman taunted. She then stopped laughing when the video turned off. Her body started to spasm much like the other man earlier as she too, began foaming at the mouth before going limp.

“Kind of glad these Kill Switch followers just kill themselves because I probably would have killed her myself,” Vivi said nonchalantly and closed the laptop.

“I have no comment to that.” Haseul stood up and held out a hand for Vivi to take as they made their way out of the shed and back into the warehouse.

Vivi walked straight to Jiwoo after placing the laptop down onto the table. She looked over both of Jiwoo’s ears and then did small tests to check her hearing. “Can you hear what I’m saying,” she asked in a hushed tone.

Jiwoo frowned and tilted her head to the side. “I didn’t catch that, but I can read your lips since it was a simple sentence.”

Vivi glanced between Jungeun and Sooyoung. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for all of us to go back to the bakery, but you made a point. How far can we get with injuries because right now, it seems like we can’t stay in one spot for too long. We sure as hell can’t stay here anymore.”

“Are you suggesting we split up?” Jungeun questioned as she placed Jiwoo’s hand on her lap.

“Can we even get back to that part of the city? Isn’t it closed off?” Jinsol asked, not liking where this conversation was going.

“There’s a possibility that they gave up on the quarantine,” Haseul spoke up. “Right before I tossed my radio, the protectorates were given the go ahead to kill any threat instead of containing it.”

Vivi turned her attention back to Jiwoo. “Could you stand up, Jiwoo?” When the woman didn’t react to her voice, she repeated herself louder.

Jiwoo finally looked at Vivi and nodded at the request. She took a hold of the pink haired woman’s hand and slowly got up from her seat. Taking a few steps forward, Jiwoo wobbled when Sooyoung sprung up to steady the redhead.

“Are you feeling dizzy?” Vivi asked as she helped Jiwoo sit back down.

Jiwoo nodded again. “A little.”

“Your inner ear is probably damaged and that’s why there’s dizziness and your balance seems to be off,” Vivi explained before turning to the group. “What do you guys want to do?”


	10. NIGHTMARES

“The quarantine might have been a bust, so they gave up on it, which means it’s probably not looking really pretty on that side of the city.” Haseul unconsciously fiddled with her protectorate badge on her upper left sleeve. “Do we really want to risk going back there?”

Jungeun placed her hand over the wound on her stomach. “My injuries aren’t immobilizing. I could just take some enhancers, but we don’t even know the extent of Jiwoo’s injuries.”

“I should be fine.” Their voices were still muffled, but Jiwoo was able to make out what was said if spoken loud enough.

Jungeun turned her head in Jiwoo’s direction. “You don’t know that. You could have internal damage from that blast or something,” she argued back.

“Then we find a medic, a tinker, but we go together,” Jiwoo pleaded. She didn’t want to be apart from everyone again.

“I still don’t like that we’re with you guys.” Hyunjin glanced between her sisters and then back to the group. “All of those attacks were meant for us, not anyone else.” She felt like it was her fault for letting this happen to her friends. None of them should be hurt like this while she was unscathed. 

“I should have stayed on the roof with you, Jiwoo,” Yerim confessed her guilt.

“And do what? Get injured too? Are you guys really blaming yourselves right now?” Jiwoo raised her voice. “This isn’t anybody’s fault. I chose to protect you three and I’m going to keep doing so whether you like it or not.”

“Agreed, so we go together,” Vivi crossed her arms. “My place isn’t the only fix. There could be others, but in this type of situation, you can bet that it’s going to be way pricer.”

“Great, I could have really used that 10k I would have won in my race. Now my meds are low and I’m not sure if I should be using all my credits right now.” Jinsol took the inhaler in her hand and checked the side to see a digital number that read 15%.

“Then we find a distributor. Deal with this day by day and we’ll worry about the future later,” Chaewon said, knowing her sister always stressed over money. Between repairing cars and street races, Jinsol lived paycheck to paycheck, but she always made the cut so that Chaewon wouldn’t go off making money as the mercenary she wanted to be.

“Chaewon is right and I’m willing to share what I have with anyone that needs it,” Hyejoo spoke up for the first time. Her friends were putting their lives in danger for her and her sisters, and she too, would do anything to protect them. 

Sooyoung stood up and grabbed the forgotten bags she brought in from the van. “So meeting over? We move as a unit. I love you, you love me. Can we eat now? I’m getting hungry.” She pulled out the first sandwich and handed it to Jiwoo. “A crap ton of extra onions for you.”

“Thanks, but I’m feeling a bit nauseous,” Jiwoo replied, but took the food anyways holding it in her lap.

Sooyoung frowned, took a sandwich out for herself, and then passed the bags over to the other members. “You should still try to eat at least a bit of it.”

Jiwoo sighed. “You need to speak up a little.”

Sooyoung bit her lip and quickly blinked back tears that Jiwoo couldn’t hear her.

“You need to try to eat something,” Jungeun replied for Sooyoung in a louder voice.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Jiwoo pulled Sooyoung down to sit next to her. She unwrapped part of the sandwich and took a small bite. She felt like all of her senses minus her hearing heightened to the point where the food made her feel sick.

All three turned when they heard someone gagging. If Jiwoo felt like throwing up before, she felt like throwing up more now that she saw Yerim rush away from the group with the empty paper bag covering her mouth. She stumbled towards the restroom when Haseul shot up from her seat, grabbed a water bottle, and went for the purple haired girl.

Haseul turned back around. “Stay,” she firmly said to her members that all wanted to help. “It’s probably from the taser.” Tasers that law enforcement carried were much stronger than the average ones. It was meant to make a person feel sick so that if they were to run from the law, they’d be easier to catch. The effects usually only lasted a day, but with how worn out Yerim already was, it was getting prolonged.

Haseul pushed her way into the bathroom and bent down to hold back Yerim’s hair as she puked over the toilet.

Yerim spat out into the bowl when she finished, breathing heavily. “This isn’t fun.” It wasn’t the first time she has been shot by one of those weapons, but she usually recovered quickly in a safe place. Right now, she was running on little sleep, too much stress, and she could barely hold her food down.

“Rinse and drink. You need to stay hydrated,” Haseul instructed, opening the water bottle and handing it to Yerim.

The younger girl took it thankfully, did what she was told, and took a few gulps. “Help me stand?” She handed the bottle over for Haseul to close.

Haseul stood and they took a hold of each other’s wrist as Yerim was pulled up on unsteady legs.

“We have packets of ramen. Maybe something soupy would be better for your stomach.” Haseul rubbed circles on Yerim’s back as they walked out of the restroom.

Yerim nodded in agreement and went back to the couch, sitting down next to Yeojin. She watched Haseul go over to one of their backpacks to pull out necessities to make her food. Haseul placed down a butane fuel canister, screwed on a mini pocket stove, and placed a portable pot on top of it. 

It was something most of them were used to seeing. Days and nights where they were out working and couldn’t eat a proper meal, they often times would cook something simple when they couldn’t get food any other way.

“You should eat some too, Jiwoo,” Haseul suggested, looking up at the woman who had already placed down her barely touched sandwich.

“I think I just want to lie down.” Jiwoo’s head was pounding and the ringing in her ears weren’t helping.

Haseul was about to protest, but decided against it. “But you have to eat something before we go okay?” She then spoke a little louder to the rest of the group. “We should leave before sundown. The possibility of another attack to keep us sleepless and tired could be their tactic seeing as how they attacked two times in a short span of time.”

“Whoever needs to rest, should rest now.” Jinsol looked around at her tired members.

“You should rest too.” Chaewon nudged her sister.

“My leg is fine.”

Chaewon huffed in annoyance “And your ribs? Don’t try to hide it when I’ve seen you grabbing at them.”

“They’re just sore, but I’m fine. I haven’t even had a shift on guard yet.” Jinsol hated feeling like she wasn’t contributing to the team.

“If you won’t listen to your sister, then listen to the actual Doc.” Vivi was loading bullets into her mechanical arm. “Rest while you can because you won’t know when the next time you’ll get to. Let us take care of you for once, Jinsol. Just go lay down at least.”

Being one of the older ones, Jinsol was used to taking care of others, so feeling helpless didn’t sit well with her. “We should at least decide what we’re going to have to do with transportation first and who’s going in which cars.” She nodded towards the vehicles.

“Taking three seems excessive when we can fit more in the van and just take two,” Vivi reasoned.

“But the van is slower,” Sooyoung pointed out, having had driven the vehicle for a few days already.

Vivi loaded the last bullet in and clicked the clip shut. “I doubt we can even drive fast with how things have been looking out in the streets.”

“I’m going to have to leave my car behind don’t I?” Jinsol asked, knowing the three sisters would find it safer to drive on their own, separated from everyone else.

“It just makes more sense to have all the targeted people in one car.” Hyunjin knew Jinsol loved her car as much as Yerim loved hers. “When everything dies down, we’ll come back for it.”

Sooyoung tapped her fingers, counting the seats in her head. “The van fits eight, so one of us is going to have to go with you guys, though.”

“I’ll go with them,” Haseul volunteered. “Vivi should be with Jiwoo to monitor her.”

They all nodded in agreement.

“I can watch the roof,” Chaewon cut to the next topic they were going to have to discuss. With both of their best snipers needing rest, Chaewon figured it was time for her to step up.

“I’ll go with you,” Hyunjin spoke up before anyone else could.

“Last time I checked, you were more the blast you in the face like Rambo type of person,” Chaewon commented as she got the go ahead from Jiwoo to borrow her sniper rifle.

Hyunjin shrugged, picking up Yerim’s weapon. “Figured it’d be nice to switch partners while taking on these shifts. Do you not want to hang with me?”

Chaewon let out a little laugh and walked towards the ladder with Hyunjin following. “I always want to hang with you. You’re just always busy, but I guess we kinda have to be around each other now.”

“Why do you have to say it like that?” Hyunjin knew that the blonde was saying it in a joking manner, but there was truth behind her words.

They each took a side on the roof and started to set up their weapons.

Hyunjin tapped behind her ear to connect her to Chaewon, so that they didn’t have to talk loud across the roof top to each other. They sat there in silence for a bit. Hyunjin wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure what.

“It’s the first time in years that we’re all together in one place,” Chaewon spoke first, making Hyunjin silently cursing at herself for being such a coward.

They weren’t always like this. Hyunjin used to be able to talk freely with Chaewon, but things have been left unsaid for so long that she didn’t know how to be the same person she once was.

“Yeah,” Hyunjin agreed, not sure what to say in a situation where all of their lives were in danger. “I’ve missed you,” she suddenly whispered out without thinking.

Chaewon took in a deep breath and sighed. “I’ve missed you too. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about not hanging out. I know you have things to take care of.”

“But that’s no excuse to not come visit you.” Hyunjin glanced back to see the blonde’s back towards her. “I talked to Heejin.”

“What did she say?” Chaewon asked nervously. After the Triplets took on more jobs, she found herself confiding in her other friends more than Hyunjin.

“Just because I’m busy doesn’t mean that you can’t talk to me or to Yerim and Hyejoo. I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t come to me anymore.” Hyunjin swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Are you sorry though?” Chaewon’s words came out harsh, but it was hard to keep her emotions in check right now. “Because you say you’re sorry, but Yerim and Hyejoo actually calls me even when they’re out on jobs.” She turned around to see Hyunjin looking in her direction. “But you, you forget to call even when I ask you to.”

Hyunjin blinked back tears and looked away. “There are things I’ve done that I’m not proud of,” her voice came out shakey. “I’ve tried so hard to block them out, but no matter how hard I try, they still have a way of eating at me even when I close my eyes.” She shut her own eyes tightly. “I didn’t want to distance myself from you, but I had to so that I could come back as the person who you could love.”

Chaewon felt her own tears threatening to fall. “I’ll always love you no matter who you are, Hyunjin.” She gritted her teeth in frustration. “Why don’t you ever let me help you when you’re struggling anymore? You don’t let anyone help you.”

“I can’t help it. I’m only a year older than my sisters, but I’ve always felt like I had to take care of them. I guess I just got into the habit of not allowing myself to feel weak, but I’ve always shown you every side of me.” Hyunjin quickly wiped away a tear that fell down her face. “I wanted to talk to you so badly, but I just didn’t know how to when I felt like we were drifting apart.” She bit her lip until there was a metallic taste. “I’m just glad you had Heejin.”

“I get nightmares sometimes you know,” Chaewon confessed suddenly, but Hyunjin already knew from what their other friend told her. “I tried so many ways to escape from them, but they keep coming back. I can’t even tell you what happens in them. It’s just a feeling deep down that gnaws at my bones and chips at my soul.” The same feeling came rushing over her at the moment. “Promise me, I won’t lose you.”

“You know I don’t make promises. No one could predict the future.” Hyunjin was realistic when it came to things like that. “But I can assure you that I’ll try my best to stop being a shitty friend and be there for you when you need me.” She glanced over her shoulder again only to see the blonde’s back was facing her. “Do you still get nightmares?”

“Sometimes,” Chaewon simply said.

“I get them too.” Hyunjin hasn’t told anyone, but she was sure her sisters knew that she wasn’t getting much sleep lately.

“Do you think we’ll ever be happy?” Chaewon asked.

“Happiness is just an emotion that comes and goes like everything else.” Hyunjin thought about the last time she felt happy. “I’m happy when I’m with you.” She wasn’t one to spill out her emotions, but she couldn’t help it when she was with Chaewon.

The blonde smiled. “I’m happy when I’m with you too. So you can at least promise me that you won’t shut me out anymore right?”

“Yeah, I promise I won’t be stupid anymore.” Hyunjin nodded to that.

“Kinda hard considering you’re doing stupid stuff all the time,” Chaewon joked.

Hyunjin smiled as the mood lightened a bit. “What can I say? I’ve always been the troublemaker out of my siblings.”

“Yeah, every time Jinsol would scold us when we were younger was because of you.” Chaewon thought back to times when things were a little easier, but she didn’t let herself reminisce in it long, knowing those were the days they could never have back.

~

“You installed an illegal weapon to your arm,” Sooyoung stated rather than it being a question.

They were seated in the van as guards for outside since the roof couldn’t cover everything.

Vivi shrugged. “I figured I was already an illegal tinker that worked in the black market that having a gun installed into my arm was the lesser of the two to go to prison for.”

“Haseul would smack you if she heard you say that.” Sooyoung let out a laugh at her ridiculous friend.

“Well, good thing you aren’t Haseul then right?” Vivi grinned at how talking to Sooyoung was like an open invitation to sound mischievous.

Sooyoung grinned along. “You’re lucky we’re in this crisis so Haseul can’t say anything about it, but damn, can I get a gun mod too?”

“And have Jungeun and Jiwoo kill me? No thanks.” Vivi threw up her hands. “They’re strong you know.” She worried about their injuries too, but they’ve handled worse.

“Everyone keeps telling me that, but,” Sooyoung’s voice trailed. “Physically, they can probably do what needs to be done when it comes down to it, but mentally, mentally they’re strong too, but even the strong have setbacks sometimes.”

“Are you talking about Jungeun?” Vivi didn’t know the full details of what happened during a job not too long ago that changed them all, but she knew it wasn’t something the three liked talking about.

Sooyoung figured with how things have been, there was no use hiding anything from her friends anymore. “She thought we were dead,” she said quietly. “I thought they were dead too.”

Vivi stayed silent watching as Sooyoung got lost in her own thoughts, trying to find how to say what she wanted to say when she tried so hard to bury everything.

“I think we really would have been dead if it wasn’t for you.” Sooyoung looked up at Vivi who had on a confused face. “You’re the best hacker I know and I don’t even come as a close second to you, but all those times you pushed me to learn really did pay off in the end.”

“Someone hacked you guys.” Vivi was trying to piece things together.

“We were being careful. We’re always careful, but,” Sooyoung paused before continuing, “I don’t even know what happened. One moment, we were split up for our mission and couldn’t contact each other, but then Jiwoo called me to tell me that Jungeun was shot. She tried so hard to keep it together, but I could tell the situation wasn’t good.” Her hands started shaking remembering back to that day. “Then the call disconnected. I kept trying to reach her and after so many tries, the call came back up, but it wasn’t Jiwoo. It was another woman. She had Jiwoo on the line, begging for her life. I couldn’t see them, but hearing her scream made me picture horrible things.”

Vivi took a hold of Sooyoung’s hand to keep them from trembling. 

“I somehow found them,” Sooyoung’s voice was now monotone. “They were on the ground, facing away from me as I approached. Both on opposite sides of a room in a building so big that it was like a maze. I reached Jungeun first and I was so scared to turn her around, because there was so much blood underneath her.” She focused on Vivi slowly running her thumb on the back of her hand. “I was so close to losing it. I was losing it, but something about everything that was happening just seemed a little off. I can’t describe it, but it was there. It was something you taught me that I never understood until I was in that position. Everything felt so real, except nothing was real.”

Vivi nodded her head understanding what Sooyoung was trying to say.

“I started tracing things back knowing that I was missing something. I couldn’t remember how we got to the building. It was like I was thrown into the middle of a dream and just accepted everything that it gave me. Things started to glitch as I started to figure things out.” Sooyoung clenched her jaw at how lucky she was. “I woke up on the floor of where the three of us split, but we never split up at all. Jiwoo and Jungeun were unconscious right next to me as I got up.”

“You got them out.” Vivi knew how difficult it was to break free from a hack that convinced your mind that everything in it was real when it was nothing more than just a trick.

“Barely.” Sooyoung’s heart pounded at the thought of almost losing the two. “I hooked myself up to Jiwoo first, but by the time I got her out, Jungeun had been in there for god knows how long.” Sooyoung was finding it difficult to breathe. “She’s like this because of me.”

“Sooyoung, no.” Vivi pulled at her friend’s hand to get the dark haired woman to look at her. “You know damn well it wasn’t your fault.” It was hard to find the right words, because she would have felt the same if she was in that position. There wasn’t anything she could say to make Sooyoung think differently.

“I know, but I can’t help the guilt that I feel. No matter what choice I made that day, I have to live with the consequences.” Sooyoung didn’t allow herself to cry as she blinked them back.

“But you got them out alive, so that’s something right?” Vivi rested her head back on the seat. “Physical injuries heal, but mental ones fester if you don’t take care of them. I think you’ve already taken the next step by talking to someone.” She turned to look at Sooyoung, who was staring out the window. “Now you have to get Jungeun to do the same, because the things that she’s holding in will destroy her faster than anything else.” Vivi knew first hand at how debilitating hacks like that could be.

“She won’t even talk to us.” The lack of emotions in Sooyoung’s voice made Vivi’s heart hurt even more.

“Sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone outside of what happened. Maybe you can talk to Jinsol about the situation,” Vivi suggested since Jungeun seemed to be able to talk to the blonde more when it came to serious topics.

Sooyoung nodded lightly. “Thanks for being my therapist although I don’t pay you.” She turned and softly smiled at the pink haired woman.

Vivi smiled back. “I’m as much as a therapist to you as you are mine.” She then looked out of the window. “The sun is coming down.”

Back in the warehouse, they were around the couches packing up and getting ready to leave the place.

“I have several tinkers in mind, but I’m not sure if any of them are still in business with what’s happening.” Vivi clicked her teeth trying to think of what was the best option. “There’s IU’s hotel who doesn’t have ties with anyone, so maybe with no one to protect, she’d still be open.”

“Do you know her personally?” Sooyoung questioned, not wanting to put her trust in a stranger that will be potentially operating on Jungeun and Jiwoo, although IU is a big name in the tinker world.

Not all medics were tinkers and not all tinkers were medics, but IU was both, much like Vivi.

“We use some of the same suppliers so we’ve both exchanged tips and products here and there. I’ve seen her work though and it’s good, but even before this mess, her prices were already high.”

“So we’re just gonna go there and hope she’s open,” Hyejoo asked for clarification on the plan.

Vivi shrugged. “What else could we do? There are other businesses I know, but they’re smaller and even if they were open, their supplies could be low since the demand right now is probably high.”

“Let’s not waste time and just go. I want to find shelter before it’s too late since we’re gonna need all the rest we can get for the night.” Haseul fastened her utility belt on herself and then helped Yeojin put on the bulletproof vest that Yerim had gave back.

“I can drive,” Hyunjin said with the keys in her hand.

Yerim nodded, not really having the energy to focus on anything after still feeling sick from the taser and her other injuries.

Hyejoo looked over to Haseul. “Take the front.” She then walked to the backseat and opened the door for Yerim to get in before she got in as well.

Haseul started to walk towards the car when a hand grabbed her back.

“Be careful. Don’t do anything stupid,” Yeojin spoke up with worry in her eyes.

Haseul gave her a small smile. “I should be saying that to you, lentil bean.”

“You’re not even that much taller than me.” Yeojin glared at her sister who only laughed.

“Don’t give Sooyoung too much trouble.” Haseul knew Yeojin was fond of the older woman and often attached herself to her when she was around.

“What are you talking about? Sooyoung loves me.” Yeojin glanced over at the taller woman to see her giving her a thumbs up.

Haseul rolled her eyes. “Don’t encourage her to be a troublemaker, Sooyoung.”

“Pretty sure Vivi’s more of a troublemaker, but okay.” Sooyoung placed a hand on top of Yeojin’s head and then pulled her into a side hug as the girl went to her side.

Vivi rolled her eyes and helped Jungeun into the van. “Sooyoung, I suggest you shut up and get in the driver’s seat.”

“Yeah, Sooyoung, shut up,” Haseul mocked, opening the front passenger side door to Yerim’s car.

“Would you all hurry up?” Hyejoo called out in an annoyed voice. “I swear, I’m the only mature one here,” she mumbled, but they knew that out of all she people loved bickering with members too.

Haseul laughed and got into the car. She then turned around to face Yerim. “You doing okay, kid?”

Yerim hummed in response. “Yeah, I just need to be able to eat a proper meal again.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as dizziness swept over her.

Hyejoo reached out and grabbed her sister’s hand lightly, being careful of the cuts. She was the least affectionate out of her siblings, but having Yerim in such a weak state this early on in this situation scared her. She also wasn’t sure if a medic tinker could do anything for Yerim since it seemed that they just had to find a secure shelter where no one would bother them, so the injured could actually rest without disturbance. 

“Sooyoung driving a van is kinda funny. It’s like she’s taking the kids to soccer practice,” Haseul commented while checking over the weapons she had on her.

“I mean, she did used to come pick us up to go to Eden.” Hyunjin smiled remembering when they first stumbled into the gym being greeted by a small smiley redhead who they later were introduced to as Jiwoo. “Do you think Jiwoo will be okay?”

Haseul sighed thinking about how much blood was dripping from the woman’s ear. “I don’t know. Hearing loss is different from losing a limb where you can just replace it with mechanical parts.”

“She doesn’t seem too worried.” Hyejoo glanced over at her sister who has fallen asleep almost as soon as they hit the road.

“Does she ever seem worried? Kid is good at hiding everything she feels.” Haseul watched as Sooyoung’s van made a turn into an alley. It led them out into a different side of the city that looked drastically different from where they were just at. “I think it’s just a part of her training and how she grew up. Having a job where your main goal is to kill someone at a young age is damaging for sure. I can’t image.”

Hyunjin nodded with one hand on her thigh and the other on the steering wheel. Her legs were a reminder of when she was at her lowest point in her life and finding Jiwoo’s and Sooyoung’s gym was what probably saved her and her sisters lives. She came in with no expectations, but the women took them under their wings and helped get her back up on her feet, quite literally.


	11. THE HOTEL

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at this point, literally just posting on here to organize how many words i have written for this year so far

Hyunjin stopped the car near a dump besides the van. The smell was awful, but it kept their vehicles mostly out of sight. Hyunjin rolled down her window when Vivi stepped out to talk to her.

“I’m going to go in first to check out the place with Sooyoung. If it works out, then I’ll bring Jungeun, Jiwoo, and Jinsoul in. Blondie’s leg is slowing her down way too much now,” Vivi informed and then looked into the back seat. “I gave Yerim some medicine already and that’s probably all that can be done. You don’t want your hands checked out?”

Yerim shook her head. “They’ll heal fine. I don’t want to waste time or money on them.”

“How’s the shoulder?”

“Aching, but I’ll survive.”

“You need to eat a little more of something with the painkillers I gave you.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll try when my stomach feels a little less queasy.”

Vivi tapped on the roof of the car. “Okay, I’m going to go in now. Keep the comms up with the other car. I can’t have mine up because as you know, no tinker allows outside communication.”

Most tinkers ban having an open line to anyone on the outside and any recordings for security reasons. They didn’t want the possibility of raids happening or any conversations in the business to be leaked out.

Vivi then walked back to the van and clicked something on her mechanical arm, making a clip of ammo fall out. “Chaewon, get in the driver’s seat.” She placed down the clip on the passenger’s seat. “And keep this safe. I can’t have firearms in there.”

“You can’t have firearms attached to your limbs in general,” Chaewon pointed out the obvious.

Vivi smirked at the remark.

Jinsol was about to protest of Chaewon driving when Vivi spoke up again. “I know you worry, but Chaewon needs to grow without everyone trying to stop her every move. If she doesn’t learn how to protect herself and others now, then when will she?”

Jinsol bit her lip knowing that Vivi was right. “Just be careful in there okay?” She chose to not comment on what Vivi said. She instead rubbed Chaewon’s arm before pushing her forward lightly to the front seat in approval.

Vivi nodded and closed the door. 

Sooyoung was leaned against the side van in a lazy manner before following Vivi as they walked towards a hotel with a sign that read ‘Hotel Del Luna’. As they got to the double doors, Vivi looked up at the guns that were pointed down on them from each side of the building. She then stood in front of an off colored part of the door. It opened up to scan her eyes of whether or not she was a threat to the establishment. Not detecting any signs, it gave Vivi the okay before Sooyoung did the same. Once the scans were done, the double doors popped open as they stepped in.

The lobby looked like an ordinary hotel with way too much security, but then Vivi led them into an escalator that went down into the basement. Once they got off, they passed by customers heading out and people who were pixelated to their vision. With a shard, a person could customize different censors such as blurring out nudity and certain ads. 

Making it to a waiting room in the back, they were greeted by a tatted woman with short brunette hair.

“What do you need?” The woman asked them with a transparent clipboard in hand.

“Two open stab wounds, sealing a cut on a leg, and hearing loss,” Vivi simply listed.

The woman quirked an eyebrow. “You guys don’t look like you need a fix.”

“Not for us. It’s for your customers outside, but I wanted to see if it was worth bringing them in with the state they’re in.”

“That’s three people and there’s a long line.” The woman pointed to the digital clipboard with a list of names.

“Can you give Dr. IU a call and say that Doc’s here?”

“She’s not taking calls while she’s working.”

“I have something she may be interested in.”

“Says everyone else here.” The woman looked annoyed now. “You either join the waiting list or you can come back tomorrow.”

“Look, you’re going to get in touch with Dr. IU and you’re going to tell her that the Doc is here with a 3 part enhancer inhaler that doesn’t combust when in use,” Vivi tried to say as nicely as possible but she was losing her patience.

The short haired woman stared at her with an unreadable expression for a few seconds before slowly lifting her finger up to tap behind her own ear. “Did you hear all of that?” She asked over the call. The woman then let out a huff of air. “Dr. IU will see you after her current patient. I suggest you bring down the patients for an evaluation before she is ready for you.”

“Thank you.” Vivi tilted her head before turning to Sooyoung. “Could you please bring them here?”

Sooyoung nodded wordlessly and went back out to get the injured members.

Vivi took a seat and looked around at how many customers there were. Not one said a word about the worker giving Vivi the go ahead to be the next in line knowing that IU’s words were final and if someone had something to say, the head tinker would gladly throw them out.

Vivi stood as Sooyoung came back with the three.

“Excuse me, I didn’t quite catch your name,” Vivi spoke in the direction of the short haired woman.

The woman turned around. “You can just call me Queue.” 

“How fitting,” Vivi mumbled, placing an arm around Jinsol’s waist to help her walk.

Queue gestured for the group to follow her as they went down a hall and into one of the open rooms.

“Who’s first?” The woman with the clipboard asked. “Actually, I’ll just go in the order you guys came in as.” She motioned for Jinsol to sit on one of the chairs.

Jinsol pulled up her pant leg to reveal a long cut that was bleeding a little from not keeping off of her feet.

“Easy fix,” Queue noted and pressed something on her clipboard.

Jiwoo was helping Jungeun take off her shirt, but the shoulder wound made it a bit difficult.

The woman rolled over to them and checked out the injuries. She scanned the area with her eyes that were able to give her stats on the wounds due to a program downloaded into her shard. 

“Should also be quick, but your shoulder might be a bit stiff to move after the operation, so  
you might want to stay the night,” Queue informed and clicked a few things on the clipboard again. “Would suck if you were to be injured again with the chaos outside.”

“There are still rooms with how many people come flooding here?” Vivi questioned.

“There is the hotel and then there is a separate ward for patients. Patients gets priority of course, so no one can book those.” The woman explained without looking up and then stood in front of Jiwoo. “I’m assuming you’re the one with some hearing loss?”

Jiwoo nodded and tucked hair behind her ears.

“Let’s see here,” Queue mumbled and used her scan to assess the damage. “Hearing loss operations takes a while and requires a patient to stay for at least 2-3 days due to imbalance, nausea, headache issues.”

Jiwoo sighed at the assessment. “Is there something else that could be done? I don’t want to be here for that long.”

“Dr. IU will be with you shortly. You can discuss with her what would be the best option for you.” The woman stood up and opened the door, looking between Jinsol and Jungeun. “I can take you two to get operated on right now.” She then turned to Jiwoo. “Please wait for the doctor.”

Jiwoo glanced at Sooyoung. “Go with them. I’ll be fine.”

Sooyoung nodded hesitantly before helping Queue wheel out the other two on the chairs that also doubled as wheelchairs.

Less than a minute later, a woman with mechanical arms walked in. “Doc,” she greeted with a smile.

Vivi stood up. “IU.” She smiled along and gave the woman a hug. “This is Jiwoo.” She gestured to the redhead.

IU stuck her hand out for a shake, which Jiwoo took. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Jiwoo nodded her head.

“Like my assistant said, the operation for damage to the ears are a bit more delicate. Maybe a hearing aid option is better for you? Is that something you would be interested in?” IU had her own clipboard that she was clicking on before showing Jiwoo what was on it.

“That costs an arm and a leg.” Jiwoo frowned at the large number that was displayed.

“Not many people come in with your kind of injury. Our supply for that is very low and the operation costs even more.”

“Even with the product I’m going to show you?” Vivi asked, pulling out the inhaler.

“The inhaler let you skip the line. Everything that comes after is the same price for everyone else.” IU eyed the product in Vivi’s hand. “How’d you get three enhancers in one without it using too much energy and just exploding in someone’s mouth?”

“I’m not called the Doc for nothing.” To anyone else, Vivi would have sounded arrogant, but knowing her work, IU knew the woman was confident with good reason.

“I think I’ll be okay without the hearing aid or operation. I can move just fine.” Jiwoo still had a headache, but figured it’d go away with time. She also didn’t want to spend too much money when she still had to pay for her inhaler medication that was half empty.

“I can at least clean up the ear with all the dry blood that are in them. Might help a tiny bit,” IU offered.

Vivi placed a hand on Jiwoo’s thigh. “Are you sure? If it’s money you need,” her voice trailed.

“There are more important things we need to save money for and once this thing is over. I can just get this fixed at your place right?” Jiwoo put her hand over Vivi’s to reassure her that she was okay. She then turned to IU. “Cleaning up my ears would be nice.”

“Could I also suggest a stay? We don’t have any more room for guests, but we have them for patients.”

“So we’d have to leave our injured here and find somewhere else to stay?” Vivi asked for clarification.

IU nodded. “I’m afraid so. The hotel is completely booked by a bunch of the rich. It’s usually two patients per room, but I can make an exception for you, one tinker to another since you have three people with you.”

“Is that such a good idea to split like that?” Jiwoo shook her leg nervously.

Splitting up was never a good idea, but Vivi knew it would do them no good if something were to happen and they had to get the injured out. “It might be better if you guys stay here where it’s secure and we’ll find someplace else, just for tonight. We’ll stay close.”

“Security for our guests are our number one priority,” IU added on. “I have some burner phones in my old stash if you’re worried about keeping in touch with each other.”

“I sometimes forget you’re an old school collector of sorts,” Vivi commented, but was grateful at the mention.

“What can I say? I get nostalgic over a time I never lived in. Such simple days really, but now here we are.” IU lifted up one of her mechanical arms and watched as the tools on them spun.

“While you get her cleaned up, can I go talk to my friend in the other room about the stay?”

“Of course, but I do want to tell you that they are filling up fairly quickly. Your friends are in the last room to the left. I just informed Queue. She’s finishing up as we speak.”

Vivi stood up and placed a hand on Jiwoo’s shoulder. “I’ll be back real quick.”

Before Vivi could knock, the door buzzed and the indicator turned green as she was let into the room.

Jungeun was on the operation table with Queue working the machines around her to close up the wounds. Sooyoung and Jinsol were seated on chairs at the side and turned when Vivi entered the room.

Vivi took a seat next to Sooyoung and explained the situation.

“I agree with Vivi,” Jinsol spoke up. “I’m basically good as new. I can watch over them for the night.”

Sooyoung was hesitant, but she nodded anyways. “Okay, and Jiwoo is really not going to go through with the operation?” She knew the cost was high and they would have to let her rest here for longer, but having one sense dulled in this situation didn’t seem like a good idea.

Vivi shook her head. “You know she’s not gonna want to stay here while we’re all out there and the prices of the hearing aid is pretty ridiculous. I told her I’d help, but we have to think about the long term if whatever is happening doesn’t die down. I hate it, but she’s being realistic. We need to save for medication.”

“Alright, so we’re done over here,” Queue announced while taking off her gloves and disposing of them. “Dr. IU told me to ask about your stay.”

Vivi looked at Sooyoung and Jinsol who both nodded at her. “We’ll take the one room. She said it’s okay if all three stay there right?”

“Correct. I’ll get someone to bring up an extra bed right away.” Queue clicked away at her clipboard. “Each person paying for themselves?” She asked.

“Yep,” Jungeun grunted out as she swung her legs over the table. Her wrist glowed green indicating to confirm payment.

Sooyoung walked over to help her get back on the wheelchair. “You okay?”

“Yeah, where’s Jiwoo?”

Queue got up from her seat and went to open the door. “She’s actually being helped up to the room as we speak.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping with the queue?” Vivi asked, no pun intended.

“I have many jobs and there are many Queues. I’m just one of them.” The short haired woman led them back out and got behind a desk. “And who will be paying for the room?”

“I’ll pay.” Sooyoung slightly raised up her hand before anyone else could speak. 

“Okay, you’re all set. If you can all tap into this room number, the automated system will guide you to your room and if you need to contact us for any reason, it is also through that.”

Jinsol and Jungeun nodded as they tapped behind their ear to hear a voice welcoming them to their stay and their vision filled with a map of the place.

“We’re gonna head out now. You guys take care of each other okay?” Vivi said, pulling the two into a hug.

Sooyoung opted to kissing the both of them on the head. “I wanted to see Jiwoo before I went.”

“Here are your burners, by the way.” Queue handed two over. “Dr. IU seems to really like the product you gave her, so these are discounted.”

“Thank you.” Sooyoung took one and gave the other to Jungeun. “I’m gonna call in a bit to talk to her okay?”

Jungeun nodded and pulled her in for a hug before heading off to her room.

Vivi and Sooyoung got into the escalator, and both let out an exhale, having gotten one thing out of the way.

They exited the place in silence as they walked towards the cars, but stopped in their tracks as they reached.

Vivi looked around. “Where the hell did they go?”

“You think IU will let us in again for a bit?” Sooyoung asked, still looking around for any signs of their friends. “They must be out of range because I can’t reach them.”

Vivi headed back for the hotel without answering and stood in front of the door until a voice spoke.

“Can I help you?” They heard Queue’s speak through the camera.

“Could we please get 10 minutes with our friends? Our ride seems to be missing.” Vivi rested her hand on the door, tapping at it impatiently when she didn’t get an answer right away.

Less than a minute later, the door buzzed them in and they were greeted by Queue.

“Dr. IU seems to like you so please dial in to the room number and the automated system will guide you.” Queue pointed to the same elevator they just got off of.

Vivi quickly said thanks and coded in the number to get a map set up in front of her eyes.

They got off the elevator and into a hall where the room they were trying to find lit green through their augmented reality.

Sooyoung knocked on the door. “Guys, it’s us. We need to talk.”

They waited for a second until the door open and Jinsol appeared.

“What’s wrong?” Jinsol asked, already sensing something was up.

Sooyoung stepped into the room, followed by Vivi as they went to stand by the beds where Jiwoo and Jungeun were.

“Their cars aren’t out there. We need to go find them, but we have no weapons and no ride,” Sooyoung explained, trying to keep calm, but having no clue where her friends were made her anxious.

“I can go with you guys,” Jinsol said picking up her hoodie.

“You guys do know that I installed an illegal self driving mod into my car right?” Jungeun mentioned from the bed. “Maybe you’d like what’s in the trunk too. It’s actually pretty close by since, you know, actually I don’t know, I just had it tailing us from a distance ‘cause I kind of missed it.”

“Your car is a beacon for the police to come chasing it down.” Vivi shook her head. “There’s too many illegal shit on that thing, and before you say more, you two are still staying here.”

Jungeun shrugged and dug into her pocket before tossing Sooyoung the keys. “Yeah, well, that illegal shit is going to come in handy.”

Jiwoo grumbled under her breath, not liking the idea of having to stay put when her friends could be in danger. “Be careful.”

Vivi and Sooyoung went back out with Jinsol by their side this time.

“Did Jungeun just gave us all full access to her car?” Vivi arched an eyebrow seeing the indicator pop up.

Sooyoung nodded. “It’s the only way you could use the weapon attachments on the vehicle if needed.”

“I still don’t get how she could race with that thing and not get pulled over,” Jinsol said as she saw Jungeun’s car making its way towards them.

“Why do you think we never take it out on missions and it just sits in the shop?” Sooyoung popped the trunk when the car stopped in front of them. “Take whatever. Kid packs way too much stuff in here.” She picked up a rifle and handgun, placed them in the back before taking her place in the driver’s seat.

Vivi got in the passenger’s while Jinsol took the backseat.

“I’m just going to drive around and you guys keep trying to get in contact with them.” Sooyoung turned on the car and stepped on the accelerator as the low volume of a city pop playlist played.

They drove, circling around when they got too far from the hotel. Sooyoung took a right when she saw people up ahead.

“No! Make a u-turn,” Jinsol instructed from the back. “I hear something and just lost it when you turned.”

Sooyoung did what she was told and went back the way they came from, but went left instead.

“Hello?” Jinsol called out through the static. “Can you hear me? 

“Step on it. They’re coming through a little louder,” Vivi said, trying to hear what everyone on the other line was saying.

Sooyoung nodded and sped up a little, still careful if there were any police around.

“Stop your car and turn off the lights,” they heard Hyunjin’s hushed voice instruct over the call.

Sooyoung and Vivi looked at each other, but followed the request and stopped next to other cars, turning off the headlights.

“What’s going on?” Sooyoung asked, looking around to see if anyone was there.

“Kill Switch is around. Not their followers, but them, with their stupid light up creepy masks on motorcycles,” Hyejoo spoke up this time. “Chaewon’s car is right next to us in an alley, but we’re keeping low because they’re roaming around.”

Jinsol cursed silently at the thought of Chaewon, Yeojin, and Heejin in one car when none of them has any real fighting experience other than at the gym.

“Wait, how the hell did you get here?” Chaewon questioned in confusion because they were some distance away from the hotel.

“Jungeun had her car stalking us this whole time.” Jinsol wish she had installed a self driving mod on her car too, but as an active racer, she couldn’t afford to be caught with it.

“Duck,” Chaewon hissed out as Yeojin and Heejin got down to the floor of the van. She watched as motorcycles came into view from the other side, heading in their direction. “This isn’t good,” she mumbled.

“What’s happening?” Jinsol asked, instinctively ducking too, although she knew Chaewon was talking about her team. She then heard loud popping noises on the line. “Is that gunfire?” 

“Something’s up ahead,” Haseul whispered, peeking out the front. She frowned, unsure of what was going on. “Seems like someone’s fighting Kill Switch?”

“Not just anybody, pretty sure that’s the woman, Yoobin, who attacked us at Eden,” Hyunjin pointed out, seeing a short haired woman, but instead of casual clothes like before, she was in a black and red suit. “I don’t think they like another team out trying to kill us. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.”

“She’s not alone.” Haseul observed. 

There was another woman in all black with blonde hair, boots to hide her obvious mechanical legs as she slid across the pavement to kick down an opponent off a motorcycle.

“Tell me where you guys are,” Sooyoung demanded out of nervousness of not knowing the full situation. “Jungeun’s car is equipped with a bunch of fire power. We can distract, lure them away since we’re not the targets and you guys get out of there.”

“No, that’s dangerous. They could view you guys as a threat and try to take you out anyways,” Hyunjin argued, not wanting her friends to put their lives on the line for them.

“How else are you going to get out? What if they spot you and it’s too late?” Sooyoung gripped the steering wheel tighter.

Hyunjin hesitantly gave out their location after a bit of back and forth argument. “We can’t just leave you guys there to fend for yourselves while we run though.”

“I can drive. I’ve been itching for a race,” Jinsol said from the back. “I’ll shoot a few rounds and get the hell out of there.”

Sooyoung turned around in her seat. “You make it sound so easy.”

“Just switch seats with me.” Jinsol took off her seatbelt and got out of the back.

Sooyoung got out as well. “Fine, but if something happens to Jungeun’s car, it’s on you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m the one that fixes her car anyways.” Jinsol took her seat and ran her hands on the steering wheel. She then pointed at a few buttons and pressed one. A retro controller sat in the glovebox. “This controls the firearms on the car. Jungeun likes her old school things, so it looks like a Super Nintendo game controller, if you know what that is,” she explained, handing it over to Vivi.

“Of course I do.” Vivi looked at the device as Jinsol told her what the rest of the buttons control.

“Okay, we’re on our way,” Jinsol called out to the rest of their friends.

She started up the car without turning on the headlights and drove slowly towards where the rest of her team were. They knew they reached the area once they heard loud noises and shouting.

“I’m going to drive straight for them. Once the first shot is fired, you guys get out of there right away.” Jinsol gripped the steering wheel tighter and waited for the okay from both cars. Once she got confirmation, she glanced over at Vivi who nodded and then stepped on the accelerator.

As they got closer, Vivi pressed the button that released the firearms on the side of the car out and was able to aim the weapons using her augmented reality once she connected it to her shard. She fired the first shot towards a small group of motorcyclists and the two women that weren’t on either of their sides. 

Jinsol drove passed the group while Vivi still fired from behind as the attention of both assassin groups were on them.

“We just got out of the alley, heading in the opposite direction from you all,” Haseul confirmed, looking back to see a mess in the streets.

“Shit, slow down, I think one of the Dreamcatcher assassins stayed behind. She’s not following us.” Sooyoung counted five people, only to see four after them from behind now.

“That’s one person on our other group. They can handle it.” Jinsol looked in the rear view mirror before drifting to the left to get on a different street.

Vivi fired more rounds backwards with motorcycles coming into view. One of them skidded into a parked car as a bullet hit a Kill Switch assassin square in the chest.

“No, go around and drop me off. Chaewon’s car was behind Hyunjin’s. She’s driving a fuckin’ slow ass van,” Sooyoung commanded, not liking that she had no idea where the last assassin went.

“I’m not dropping you off anywhere,” Jinsol argued and swerved to the right as another motorcyclist got close to the side of their car.

“What does this button do again?” Vivi asked pressing it anyways before getting an answer. “It didn’t do anything.”

Not even two seconds later, an explosion was heard from behind as they ducked down on instinct.

Jinsol looked in the rear view mirror again to see a blown up motorcycle. “That was a land mine of sorts.”

“I can see why Jungeun rarely takes this car out,” Vivi said with no surprise in her voice. “One more Kill Switch member and one Dreamcatcher,” she mumbled, trying to find an angle to attack the rest of them.

The motorcyclist was a few feet away from the back of their car as Jinsol tried to lose the person. Sooyoung rolled down her window when the assassin got closer. Their gun was aimed at her, but she quickly launched half of her body out and grabbed the assassin, slamming the masked enemy against Jungeun’s car. Sooyoung dropped the person and watched as they bounced off another car and rolled onto the ground.

“Where the hell is that short haired bitch, because I’m going to kill her,” Sooyoung growled out, thinking of the woman that had hurt Jungeun.

Their ears rang as another explosion sounded off from the other side.

“What the hell was that?” Vivi questioned frantically. “Is everyone okay?” 

“Guys, I’m going to do something stupid and get out of the car because Chae’s van just got hit and I can’t tell if they’re okay.” They could hear Hyunjin panting as she got out of the driver’s seat. “Take the wheel, Hye.”

Haseul followed Hyunjin out as they ran towards the van with the back corner of the vehicle busted open. 

“You get them out. I’ll watch your back.” Hyunjin kept her gunblade up, looking around the area for any signs of the assassins.

Haseul nodded as they reached the van that was smashed against the side of a building. Her heart raced as she got to the driver’s seat and yanked the door open. “Chae,” she called out.

The small blonde groaned. “Yeojin. Heejin,” was the first thing she said, not caring about her own safety.

“Let me get you out first. Can you move?” Haseul unbuckled the seatbelt, seeing some blood on Chaewon’s arm. 

“Yeah, I think I’m fine,” she groaned out again and placed a hand over the wound on her left arm.

“Are you guys okay?” Haseul asked her sister and Heejin in the back. She couldn’t see well in the dark, but could tell they were moving.

Before they could answer, Hyunjin fired her gunblade in the direction next to Yerim’s car. The blonde woman with mechanical legs was on top of the car smiling. She raised up her arm, turning on a shield mod to deflect Hyunjin’s bullets.

“Shit,” Hyunjin muttered. “Get them out, quick,” she shouted to Haseul before making her way to her sisters.

The blonde woman still had the shield up as she used her other arm to smash the driver’s window below and yanked Hyejoo out of the car.

Hyejoo turned her own mod on as she swung the same arm at her opponent’s head only for her to move out of the way.

By now, Yerim was out of the car as well, carrying her shotgun, she was about to shoot, but her weapon was knocked back by another gun firing at her. She quickly ran behind her car to go out the other side. Yerim aimed at the woman that still had a grip on Hyejoo again and fired. Even with the shield, the force of the shotgun threw the woman back and off of the car, but brought Hyejoo down with her.

Hyejoo tried to get on top when the blonde woman underneath used her mechanical legs to kick up at Hyejoo, sending her crashing to the side of Yerim’s car.

Hyejoo groaned but quickly held her shield up in case of oncoming bullets.

Yerim fired another shot at the woman, knocking her back again. She then turned her shotgun into a sledgehammer as she ran for the blonde and swung it against the shield, making the woman fall on her back. She was about to smash it down again when she looked up to see the short haired assassin with her gun pointed at her. Yerim swiftly brought her hammer up to block the bullet as Hyunjin fired in the other woman’s direction.

Yerim turned her attention back to the blonde on the ground when she was swept off her feet as the woman sprung up to bring down her shield onto Yerim. Holding the hammer up with both hands, she blocked the attack, her arms shaking from the impact. The blonde was about to bring the shield down again when she was tackled to the side by Hyejoo.

The roar of an engine was heard above all the noise as Jinsol drove towards them. Sooyoung and Vivi hopped out of the car, not risking firing the weapon attachments in the direction of their friends.

Hyejoo had her mechanical hand on the woman’s throat ready to crush it, but had to let go to defend herself as she saw an incoming attack in the corner of her eye. She looked up to see a different assassin with dark hair and a long leather jacket. 

The woman underneath Hyejoo grabbed at her arm and collar, placed a knee up to her chest and swept her to the side, getting the top position. She had her hand on Hyejoo’s throat, mimicking what was just done to her. Lifting her up by the throat, she stood up with Hyejoo in front of her.

“Ah, it’s not very nice to have weapons up at my face,” the blonde woman smirked at Hyunjin’s and Yerim’s guns pointed at her as she tugged Hyejoo in closer.

Sooyoung and the short haired assassin had their weapons on each other a little farther from the group while Vivi had hers aimed at the newcomer.

The blonde grinned wider. “It’s really nice seeing you again, Sooyoung,” she spoke again without turning to look at the tall brunette.

Sooyoung glanced over but kept her focus on the current assassin she had in her range. She was sure she has never come across any member of Dreamcatcher until the voice clicked in her head.

“How’s Jungeun and Jiwoo doing?” The woman asked, tightening her grip on Hyejoo.

The hairs on the back of Sooyoung’s neck stood up and her hand started to slightly tremble. She wanted to turn her rifle on the blonde, but before she could, Hyejoo yelled out as she fell to her knees. Sooyoung took the opportunity and fired at the short haired assassin, hitting her in the shoulder as Yoobin fired back. 

Hyejoo felt pain in her neck where her shard was that started to radiate throughout her body as her vision slowly turned black.


	12. HACKED

The blonde woman pointed her gun behind Hyejoo’s head with her other arm up to shield herself. She was knocked forward when a bullet hit behind her shoulder where there was no cover, lodging it in her metal arm. Turning around, she saw Sooyoung coming at her, but used her augmented legs to sprint to the side, blades coming out from each limb as she scaled up a building to get to the rooftop. 

“Sooyoung, don’t!” Vivi shouted, already kneeling besides Hyejoo. She placed her hand on Hyejoo’s neck, below her ear to eject her shard.

Hyejoo gritted her teeth at the burning sensation of the device being taken out. Everything felt so surreal where nothing was actually happening and she was just floating in air. There was no one around her as she tried to focus on breathing.

“What’s wrong with her?” Hyunjin asked while holding onto her sister’s hand.

“It’s a hack. That woman, her voice,” Sooyoung paused in her sentence and looked at Vivi, who was staring at her knowingly.

“Guys,” they turned their attention to Heejin who had stepped out of the van after the chaos. “We need to move.” She pointed behind them to see a few random people sprinting for them from a distance.

“Haseul, switch cars with me, I need to be with Hyejoo. Sooyoung, you’re with me too,” Vivi instructed as she helped Hyunjin carry up her sister.

Haseul nodded with a bruised up Yeojin by her side as they ran to the car Jinsol was in.

Placing Hyejoo carefully into the backseat, Vivi went to the back through the other side. “Sooyoung, hurry!” Vivi called out.

The other woman was gunning down the sprinters as they got too close, but every time she shot one, another would appear. Sooyoung ran for the back and closed the door with the two sisters in front.

Hyunjin drove off, following Jinsol to a destination they hadn’t planned.

“She’s out right now, so that means the hack is fully into her subconscious. I’m going to need to sync in.” Vivi was checking over Hyejoo’s vitals before pulling out a USB cable from her arm. She plugged one end to her neck and then looked over to Sooyoung. “If I’m not back in 10, you’re going to need to come get me, but I doubt that’d be needed.”

“Don’t get too cocky. I need you to be careful.” Sooyoung frowned at her friend’s words. “That assassin hacker likes mazes, like literal mazes. You’re going to end up going in circles if you don’t figure out the little details that stand out.”

Vivi nodded and then plugged the other side of the cable into Hyejoo’s neck. She sat back and closed her eyes.

As Vivi opened her eyes again, she was in a completely different place. She found herself on her back, looking up at the night sky on the sidewalk of a neighborhood. Vivi quickly got up and looked around to see no one anywhere.

Vivi tapped behind her ear and listened to it ring several times, but nobody picked up. Looking at her surroundings again, she realized that there were no lights around except for one house at the end of the road. Tilting her head, she ran for the house, but after some time, she found that she wasn’t making any progress. She was at the same distance she was when she first started. It didn’t take her long to realize that every house started to look the same.

Vivi ran up to the porch of one of the houses and looked inside the window, sure enough, there was a tiny light. She then heard a crash inside the house that made her flinch back. It only took a blink of the eye for the lights in the house to turn on as if it were lit from the start. 

She ducked as she heard yelling, but slowly peeked up to see a man and woman on their knees, gagged and bound. Masked men with guns had their weapons pointed at them. Looking at the direction of the stairs, she saw another masked man carrying an unconscious girl on his shoulders while dragging a screaming one from behind.

“Hyejoo,” Vivi whispered out, recognizing the screaming little girl. Shaking her head, she looked away and closed her eyes shut. “I can’t be here.” She got off the porch and went to the next house.

Taking a deep breath, Vivi walked up to another house and again, stood by the window to see another scene unfold in front of her. The environment in there didn’t look like the previous house, instead, it was a much darker place with paint chipped off the walls and no furniture in sight.

Vivi waited until she heard another door open and loud footsteps. Two girls were dragging someone into the house.

“The bleeding isn’t stopping!” One of the girls cried out, kneeling on the ground, the side of her face showing. It was Hyejoo as a young teen, her left arm wasn’t mechanical yet.

Hyunjin was on the ground, blood underneath her as Hyejoo had a jacket pressed onto a wound on her sister’s stomach.

Yerim, who had dark wavy hair, was pacing around next to them, looking like she was trying to make calls.

“Hyunjin, please.” Blood was seeping between Hyejoo’s fingers as she tried to keep it together.

Vivi wanted to run through the doors to help, but knew she had to keep moving. Letting out a shaky breath at having a peek into Hyejoo’s past, she looked around the neighborhood once more. There were too many houses to go through and not enough time. The longer Hyejoo was stuck somewhere in this hack, the more real the situation became and the trauma left behind is something that can last a lifetime.

“Okay, Vivi, you got this,” she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes to concentrate. Vivi ran a program to single out what she needed, but it was vague at best. There was no way to completely know what she was looking for since it was more of a feeling than anything that she had to run on.

Opening her eyes, Vivi turned her head towards a fence and went to it. She unlocked it using her own hack and stepped through to the backyard and made her way to the next house.

The back light was on before she reached it. Vivi went up the few steps and tried to look through the frosted window on the door, but couldn’t make out anything from the other side. A loud thud and a yell caught her attention as she made her way back down the stairs to see light coming from a small window at the bottom of the house in the basement. Vivi licked her lips in nervousness as she bent down and got onto her stomach to look through the window. What she saw made her clasp her hand down onto her own mouth to stop her from making any noise.

All three sisters were hanging from the ceiling by their wrists and ankles chained. The sword Vivi had given to Yerim was impaled in the purple haired woman’s stomach as she hung there limply. She could hear Hyejoo’s quiet crying as she tugged at the chains that kept her up, making her wrists bleed. From what Vivi could see, Hyunjin was still moving, but she couldn’t tell how bad her injuries were since the oldest sibling was the farthest away.

Hyunjin suddenly screamed out, a shock of electricity could be seen going through her body. Vivi frowned, not sure where it was coming from until a tall figure from the dark corner of the room stepped out. It was the slender man looking android.

Vivi’s eyes widen as she quickly got up to her feet and ran for the back stairs again. She used another hack to unlock the door and went into the house. She kept trying to get to the basement door, but couldn’t get anywhere until she put more code in to stop the maze like structure. Finally reaching the door after a few attempts, she yanked the door open and ran down the stairs.

By now, Hyunjin was on the ground motionless, bleeding out from multiple wounds, chains still around her wrists and ankles.

The android turned to Vivi and shot out its claw like hands, but missed as she moved out of the way.

“My imagination is stronger,” Vivi growled out and raised up her right arm. A small device shot out, sticking to the enemy’s slick metallic head. The figure tried to get it off when its head exploded causing it to fall to its knees and collapse onto the ground. “I need that in real life,” she muttered to herself.

Running to where the chains were, Vivi carefully lowered Hyejoo down. The hysterical woman tried getting to Yerim to get her down too, but was stopped by Vivi.

“Hyejoo,” she called out. “Hyejoo, listen to me.” Vivi grabbed the woman’s arm to get her to face her. “You need to trust me, but this isn’t real. This situation never happened. Your sisters are fine.”

Hyejoo didn’t stop crying as she yanked away from Vivi. The pink haired woman stood in front of her to get her attention again.

“Just stop! I just want to hold them, please!” Hyejoo’s vision was blurred from all the tears, her throat hurt from the crying and screaming.

Vivi hesitantly stepped to the side, letting Hyejoo lower Yerim to the ground. The grieving woman went to her sister, falling down to the knees, and pulled Yerim’s head onto her lap.

Vivi kneeled down in front of her. “Hyejoo,” she started. “I’ve been training you for this and I need you to trust me,” her voice was soft, trying to stay calm for her younger friend. “Yerim and Hyunjin are fine. You’re unconscious right now because of a hack and I’m here to get you out.”

Hyejoo didn’t stop crying, but looked up anyways. “They’re okay,” she stated more than questioned.

Vivi nodded her head. “Do you trust me?”

Hyejoo hugged Yerim closer as her eyes landed on Hyunjin’s body and then back up to Vivi. “Yes.”

Vivi let out a small sigh of relief. “Remember that training session where I put us on a field, a field so green that none of us has ever seen before. I then turned it into a chaotic warzone in the middle of the city. Do you remember how that felt?”

Hyejoo bit her lip and nodded.

“Both scenes felt so real even though I changed it in a split second. It was like waking up inside a dream where you had no idea when the beginning was of how you got there, you were just there, existing in a place that didn’t really exist.” Vivi reached out and cupped the side of Hyejoo’s face, using her thumb to wipe away a falling tear. “Do you remember how you got here?” She asked and waited for Hyejoo’s face to register the question.

Hyejoo furrowed her eyebrows. “No,” she quietly said.

One second they were in the basement and the next, they were standing on a hill, no light pollution from the city to hide the stars all around them.

Hyejoo no longer had blood on her as she stood there with the wind blowing in her hair. “I used to come up here with my sisters,” she spoke with her back towards Vivi. “It used to be my safe place until it was destroyed, just like how everything else was destroyed.” Vivi stayed silent until Hyejoo turned to face her. “This isn’t real, but it’s a possible future. There’s nothing but death that surrounds me.”

Vivi shook her head. “Death is inevitable. We’re all going to die some day, but it’s what we do in this lifetime that counts and I plan on fighting, and maybe going out with a bang in the end.” 

Hyejoo gave out a little smile. “You always have a way with words. Thank you, Vivi.”

Vivi blinked to find herself back in Yerim’s car. 

“Are you okay?” She heard Sooyoung ask, but her voice sounded so far away. Vivi nodded in response as her senses came back to her.

Vivi turned to Hyejoo and carefully unplugged the cable. “Hey,” she softly called out, seeing the dark haired woman’s eyes shut tight. She tucked Hyejoo’s hair behind her ear as she saw tears fall. Pulling Hyejoo into her arms, she let the younger one cry it out as the rest of the car stayed silent, knowing it wouldn’t do any good to ask questions now. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re all okay.” Vivi kissed the top of Hyejoo’s head, running small circles on her back.

~

“There’s too much ground to cover. There’s no way we can know if this whole place is clear.” Jinsol paced around a library inside of a school. “And what if the kids come to school tomorrow?”

“There’s no kid that’s coming in tomorrow. School’s probably canceled and everyone’s probably in their houses on lockdown right now,” Haseul said, checking Yeojin over for injuries.

“I’m really fine.” Yeojin shrugged her sister’s hand off. “I’m going to make some ramen.” She nodded her head over at their bags and walked away.

Haseul sighed, watching the smaller girl go to the other side of the large room where everyone else was while her and Jinsol were guarding the doors. “Pretty sure she’s mad at me.” She loosened the uniform she still had on, feeling the weight of it from being exhausted.

“I could say something to make you feel better, but I can understand why she’s acting the way she’s acting.” Jinsol stopped pacing and got Haseul to sit down on the chairs they had dragged over. “Being an older sister is hard huh?” She glanced over to see Chaewon resting her back against a wall on the floor.

“Yeah, but Chaewon doesn’t hate you.”

Jinsol turned her focus on the short haired woman. “Yeojin doesn’t hate you. I think she’s just frustrated that she hasn’t seen you in so long and it took something like this to bring you back to her,” she tried to explain. “She’s grown up a lot in between times you didn’t come home.”

“I joined the protectorate to protect her, to protect everyone in ways our corrupt system couldn’t.” Haseul ran a hand through her hair and sat back in her seat. “But in the end, I did nothing but fail her, leaving her on her own.”

“She wasn’t on her own. She had the rest of us and me, and I know we’re not you, but you did what you had to do.” Jinsol hesitantly reached out to hold Haseul’s hand and was glad when the smaller woman didn’t pull away.

Haseul nodded. “I had to,” she agreed. “They were going to kill us. I did what I had to do,” she tried to convince herself. “I killed the people that were after my family.” Haseul tried to forget, but nothing was ever truly forgotten. Joining the protectorates was her way of getting into a group that had enough power and information to take out a corrupt business that her parents owed money to. No matter how much they paid, there was always more to be owed.

“And you stayed because you knew you could make a difference in this city,” Jinsol softly said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t see that before.”

Haseul shook her head at arguments they used to have. “It’s okay. If it was you in the protectorates, I’d probably try to convince you to leave too. Maybe I should have.”

Jinsol exhaled quietly and closed her eyes shut before opening them again. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I left you when you needed me the most, but I was just so angry. But whatever decision you made, I knew you’d make the right one, so don’t doubt yourself now. You were meant to be in the protectorates, because if you weren’t, some of us probably would already be dead.”

“You don’t need to apologize. It’s the past and we’ve been over this.” Haseul let out a shaky breath remembering so many close calls her friends have had. “But I’m sorry I left you too, and thank you for understanding me.” Haseul ran her fingers over Jinsol’s mechanical hand. She missed the warmth that she used to feel from them, but now, they were just cold to the touch and she couldn’t help but feel guilty that she wasn’t there the day Jinsol almost died trying to save Yeojin.

~

“Okay, I cleaned your shard, so it should be fine now, but let me know if there are any glitches or something.” Vivi held it up and handed it over to Hyejoo.

“Thanks.” Hyejoo took the device and inserted it into the port on her neck.

“Check your maps, arm and shield, comms,” Vivi instructed while making sure everything was working properly.

“Seems okay,” Hyejoo answered after going through a few programs.

Vivi nodded and looked at her other members around the library to make sure they were out of earshot. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asked quietly.

Hyejoo sighed while adjusting her mechanical arm. “Not really. Everyone’s just going to ask me this over and over again, aren’t they?”

“Everyone’s just worried.” Vivi chose her words carefully, knowing being hacked was a sensitive topic for anybody. “You don’t have to talk to me, but you should talk to someone.”

“I don’t know how to talk to them.” Hyejoo glanced over at her sisters. “It just doesn’t make sense. That reality was just as real as any other reality. One minute they were dead, but now they’re fine. I can’t wrap my head around that and I can’t get the images out of my head.” She closed her eyes for a second as the scenes unfolded in her mind again, making her shake her head.

“I want to be able to say that I understand what you’re going through, but I don’t. I guess I’ve been hacked before and have hacked many others all my life that I kind of just got used to knowing what’s reality and what isn’t. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt though, because it does, but you can’t dwell on what isn’t real,” Vivi found it hard to explain something that she couldn’t completely understand herself. “I saw things from your past that I shouldn’t have seen,” she admitted. “Things I didn’t want to know unless you told me and I’m sorry for that.”

Hyejoo looked up, different parts of her past flashed through her head. “You got me out, Vivi. There’s nothing I could say, but thank you.” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what Vivi had seen.

Vivi didn’t feel like there was a need for thanks. She has done her best to teach her members about hacks, but nothing could prepare a person for the real deal, and having lived through it just means that there’s a whole set of other things Vivi had to teach to Hyejoo now.

“I know you don’t want to talk about everything and that’s understandable, but I’m going to need you to talk to someone soon. The more you talk and go over what you’ve experienced, the more you’re going to figure things out, little details you’ve missed, things that were off.” Vivi didn’t want Hyejoo to be more stressed, but it was necessary. “You don’t know when you’re going to be hacked again or if any one of us will be in your exact situation. I know it hurts, but you have to be ready.”

Hyejoo didn’t realize she was holding her breath as Vivi spoke. Just thinking about what she experienced made her want to scream and lash out. “I heard you talk to Sooyoung about hacks, about helping you out. Why does she seem to know more than the rest of us?”

Vivi spotted Sooyoung on the phone and hesitantly said, “because she’s been there too.”

Hyejoo already figured, but wanted a confirmation. “So has Jiwoo and Jungeun,” she stated more than questioned. The three of them have been off since coming back from a mission, but they wouldn’t talk about the details.

Vivi nodded. “I think it’s best if you talk to one of them. They don’t want to talk about it either, but I’m going to make them because I can’t be the only one that knows how to get us out of a hack.” She searched Hyejoo’s eyes to try to make her understand. “I’m not always going to be there and it sucks, but every one of you that has experienced this needs to step up if we’re going to survive this. Think of your sisters and Chaewon and everyone else. One day, they might need you like how you needed me today.”

Hyejoo swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded in understanding. “I don’t know how you do it.”

Vivi softly smiled, but it was bittersweet. “Get some rest okay?” She didn’t know how else to answer Hyejoo. She didn’t know how she does it either. Thinking back to her conversation with Haseul didn’t change her mind about how she felt less human than everyone else.

“I don’t think I can.” Every time Hyejoo closed her eyes, everything would just replay in her mind.

Vivi dug in her pocket and pulled out an inhaler. “My dose of the relaxation meds in here is a bit higher than what I give out to everyone else.” She handed the device over. “I’ll let you use it once a day for a bit, but no more than that. I don’t want you to become dependent on it, you got that?”

Hyejoo nodded and took the inhaler thankfully. She knew just how costly and habitual it could get, remembering the days when Hyunjin struggled with it after losing her legs. 

“You should rest too.” Vivi heard a quiet voice from behind as she turned around to see Sooyoung. “I know how draining it could be,” she said referring to her saving Hyejoo.

Vivi agreed, too tired to argue as she laid down near Hyejoo, using a backpack as a pillow.

Sooyoung stood there for a moment, watching Hyejoo toss and turn, hating to see the younger girl go through what she has gone through. Exhaling made her realize just how exhausted her body was as she made her way to Yeojin and Yerim.

“You guys aren’t tired?” Sooyoung asked, placing a hand on Yeojin’s back. “How’s your head?”

“Definitely has felt better days,” Yeojin replied while waiting for the water to boil. She had hit it when the van crashed, but other than being bruised, she was mostly okay.

“Hyunjin’s making me eat before I go lay down.” Yerim was seated on the ground with her sledgehammer shotgun by her side.

Sooyoung sat down next to the purple haired girl. “Still thinking about how it makes total sense that you picked a sledgehammer as your weapon of choice.”

Yerim looked over with her eyebrows quirked up.

“Your throws at the gym were already impressive, but I think they got better after you got the sledgehammer with all the swinging,” Sooyoung elaborated.

“What could I say? I got shoulder muscles for days.” Yerim raised her shoulders, but then winced right after. “Okay, maybe they’re not in such good shape right now, but I’m pretty sure I can still kick butt in the octagon.” Suddenly, she started to miss her gym days of having Sooyoung and Jiwoo as her coaches for self defense.

“I mean, I don’t doubt it.” Sooyoung stretched out and watched as Yeojin finished making a few packs of ramen, splitting them up into bowls from the mess kits.


	13. BOUNTY

Sooyoung jolted awake. For a moment, she wasn’t sure where she was, but then the aching in her back from sleeping on the floor reminded her of the situation she was in. She felt her stomach empty from just eating late night ramen and almost regretted through Jiwoo’s leftover sandwich out. Slowly getting up and walking away from the huddled up group of her friends, she went to pick up the phone that was vibrating.

“Hello?” Sooyoung answered with exhaustion in her voice.

“I got some information from IU,” Jungeun replied right away. “She has heard about the bounty from different sources and sure enough, it all leads back to the inhalers that are still selling like crazy out on the streets.”

Sooyoung walked over to the front door where Hyunjin and Heejin were seated, guarding the library while everyone else slept. “Does she know who placed the hit on them?” She then pressed a button to put the call on speakerphone.

“No, but she does know that whoever did isn’t happy knowing that the Triplets have been taking out their older distributors. They’re scared that the same thing is going to happen to their little Silver Lining inhalers if the sisters are around,” Jungeun’s voice came out loud enough for the three of them to hear. “IU says they still have shop set up deeper in the city, not too far from the hotel and that her customers are coming in with these inhalers since the police and the protectorates aren’t really concerned about them at the moment with the crazies roaming around. She tried taking them apart to see what’s inside before, but they kept, I don’t know, she said they self destructed on their own or something like that.”

“Okay, well obviously whoever made them doesn’t want anyone else to replicate what they have,” Sooyoung concluded.

“Or they don’t want anyone to know what’s actually in the inhalers. There’s just no way that medicine is being sold for half the price and apparently being marketed with having no side effects. That’s just too good to be true, especially with some name like that Silver Lining bullshit.” Jungeun could be heard shuffling around on the other line before speaking into the phone again. “IU has a little job for us, and I think it’s a win win. She needs her hands on another of those inhalers and so do we, so all we have to do is get some and she’ll put in an order for legit inhalers she gets from a nearby facility. I mean, obviously we’re going to have to pay for them, but finding medicine on our own is already hard enough with what’s happening out there.”

“I’ll talk to the rest of the team and see what’s up, but I’m sure they’ll agree.” Sooyoung looked at Hyunjin and Heejin. “Could you guys wake up everyone?” They nodded as she pressed the button to turn off the loudspeakers. “How’s Jiwoo?”

“She says she’s okay earlier, but still has a headache. The nausea and ringing in the ear makes it hard to sleep, so she’s been pretty tired. We’re probably just going to nap since we don’t have to check out until noon.”

“I’ll pay for another day. You both should just rest. Sleeping on the floor of some library isn’t very comfortable.” Sooyoung could hear the others getting up as more voices could be heard. “Could I talk to Jiwoo?”

“She actually finally fell asleep before I called.”

“That’s good,” came the simple reply. Sooyoung missed them more than she’d like to admit. 

“I’ll text you the location where the distributors are nearby.”

“Okay, I’ll text you back to let you know if the group is going to accept the job or not.”

“Alright. I love you.”

Sooyoung smiled. “I love you too.” She then hung up the phone and walked back to the group.

“No way, it’s too dangerous out there.” Sooyoung could hear Jinsol say as she took her place in the circle her friends made.

“Either way, we’re going to have to go out, whether it be for medicine or food or supplies,” Chaewon tried to reason. “And I know you’ve been only taking one dose a day with your inhaler almost empty.”

“We’ve been doing what?” This time it was Haseul who spoke up.

Jinsol glared at her sister. “You really going to say that out loud instead of talking to me in private?”

“We’re a team, Jinsol. We can’t be keeping secrets from each other when we’re all in this together, especially something that can get you killed,” Chaewon’s voice shook as she spoke. “You know what happened last time.”

“This isn’t like last time.” Jinsol looked around the room to see concerned eyes.

“We all have medication. We can share. Why would you do that to yourself?” Haseul asked in a soft tone.

“Because.” Jinsol let out a frustrated huff of air. “Because nothing is certain. We didn’t know when we’ll find more and I’m not willing to use someone else’s medication knowing I’m taking their supply.”

“You’re so fuckin’ stupid,” Vivi growled out. “We work as a team. Everyone is willing to share what we have right?” She got nods from everyone in the room. “Don’t be so damn selfish when we all need you.”

“Vivi.” Sooyoung placed a hand on the woman’s back, trying to calm her. She then let out a sigh. “I’ve also been taking one dose a day,” she admitted as heads whipped in her direction. “I haven’t even told Jungeun and Jiwoo, so,” her voice trailed for a bit. “I know the job is dangerous, but we don’t really have a choice right now.”

“I can’t send my sister out there.” Jinsol glanced at Chaewon who still had her eyes on her.

“We’ll be there.” Hyunjin nodded her head towards her own sisters. “Chae’s the only one that knows her way around even though I don’t want her in the streets either.”

“I know you’re worried, but I can do this. You just have to trust me.” It wasn’t like Chaewon wasn’t scared too, but knew this was something she had to do.

“I do trust you. I just don’t trust anyone else outside of our team.” Jinsol felt conflicted. Chaewon has helped take out bad inhalers so many times before, but this was different. She bit her lip and let out another exhale. “You get those inhalers and you come right back. Don’t try to ask for more information.”

Chaewon nodded, glad that her sister finally agreed.

“I can drive,” Yerim said, standing up.

“You sure?” Hyejoo asked, standing up as well.

“Yeah.” Yerim caught the keys that were tossed to her from Hyunjin. “We’re going to have to go out and get food too.”

“We’ll pack everything up here and go grab some, and then all meet back here,” Haseul said, already assuming that that was the plan for the rest of the group. “How are we getting Jiwoo and Jungeun?”

“I paid for another day. They’re in no condition to be out.” Sooyoung was texting the two about what was going on.

“Okay, we should head out now, the earlier the better.” Hyunjin was already walking out with her sisters, Chaewon, and Jinsol following.

They walked down the empty hall with their footsteps echoing. Being cautious of their surroundings, they made it to the entrance and pushed open the door, carefully making sure they didn’t trip the wire they had set up the night before.

“There’s a mall near the address Jungeun gave us.” Chaewon sat between Jinsol and Hyejoo as she sent the pinned location over to Yerim who was driving. “Distributors like to hang around there, selling to teens, but since I’m sure the mall is closed, I’m not sure if they’re there anymore.”

“We can check it out.” The map was displayed out in front for only Yerim to see as she sped up, having seen some people lingering out in the streets. “I still don’t get what those things are ‘cause they certainly don’t act human.” 

Hyejoo had her eyes fixated on each person they passed by, but her attention went down to her hand when she felt another on top of hers. Chaewon had wordlessly held onto her like they had done so many times before. Hyejoo turned her hand over so that her palm was facing up, letting Chaewon get a better grip.

The smaller blonde looked over and gave her a small smile. “Are you getting my back on this job?”

Hyejoo shrugged and glanced at Jinsol. “We both can cover you since I don’t think Jinsol will be able to sit still if you’re out of her sight.”

Chaewon rolled her eyes. “My sister is the biggest worry wart.”

“You know I’m sitting right here right?” Jinsol said with annoyance in her tone.

Chaewon had on a playful smile, but didn’t say anything else.

Yerim parked the car behind the mall, away from the streets. She turned around in her seat. “Alright, so keep your comms and location up. There is a possibility that I’m going to have to move if something happens, so we might not be in this very spot when you come back.”

The three in the back nodded and got out of the car.

Hyunjin rolled down her window before they could get far. “Be careful, okay?”

Chaewon turned back around and bent down to be at Hyunjin’s level. “I kinda miss this.”

“The job or me worrying over you?” Hyunjin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Chaewon couldn’t help but show teeth with her smile this time. “Both.”

Hyunjin shook her head. “Just don’t be stupid, okay?”

“Got it.” Chaewon did a little salute that Hyunjin often did before leaving for a job. The small blonde caught up to the other two. “Stay behind me. No one wants to see a group coming.”

Hyejoo nodded and grabbed Jinsol’s arm. “If there’s trouble, you run, got that? This isn’t like our old jobs.”

“Yeah, I know.” Chaewon checked her pistol over before placing it behind her waistband. “Don’t come running right away either. It’s no good if you’re seen around here,” she pointed out that there’s still a bounty out for the Triplets.

Hyejoo knew she’d come for Chaewon at the first sign of trouble, but nodded anyways.

They said their quick goodbyes as Chaewon went to work. She looked around the area before heading to a spot she knew that had been previously occupied by distributors. Searching around a staircase by one of the entrances of the mall, she found what she was looking for. It was a small arrow that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, but Chaewon knew to turn on a blacklight feature that was installed in her vision. 

“Seems like they’ve moved locations,” Chaewon spoke through the comms to the rest of her team. It was the first time the arrow was pointed in a direction it usually wasn’t.

She walked carefully along the walls, making sure she wasn’t out in the open. Hearing noises ahead of her, Chaewon quickly went behind some covering and checked the distance between her and the other two, noting that they stopped in their spots at the same time she did. Even without communication, Hyejoo was used to following Chaewon and understood what her movements meant.

Chaewon watched as a man passed by. He was looking around aimlessly, his steps erratic. She thought she’d be more scared than she actually was, but she stayed calm as he got farther away from her.

Standing back up, she continued walking while scanning the area. “Another arrow up ahead,” Chaewon noted before turning right. “It’s leading to a restaurant just outside of the mall.”

“They don’t usually do business inside of a place,” Hyejoo stated over the line.

“No, but things have changed so.” Chaewon quickened her pace.

She was half way there when she saw someone running at her from the corner of her eye.

Chaewon instinctively took out her gun from her waistband while still on the move. Taking out the suppressor, she tried to attach it onto her weapon, but the one armed woman sprinting at her was getting too close.

“Shit,” she mumbled under her breath, took aim and fired.

The woman came skidding forward with a bullet to the chest, but she still used her mechanical arm that had spikes out to crawl her way towards the blonde. Chaewon walked over, aimed the gun at the woman’s head when she heard a loud screech that sounded like it could have been produced by a human and looked up. The firing of the weapon must have attracted more unwanted attention.

Chaewon quickly screwed on the suppressor to the gun and shot the woman behind the head as she still tried to grab at her ankles.

She wasn’t far from the restaurant as she made the rest of her way over. Reaching the front entrance, she noticed that the door handle was rigged with a small device that would trigger if someone entered. Most people wouldn’t have seen it, but Chaewon always knew what she was looking for when dealing with distributors who didn’t want to be found unless a person could figure out their signature code.

“What’s happening? Are you in?” Chaewon could hear Jinsol ask, but she didn’t answer in case there were cameras around the area.

She scanned the place until her eyes landed on an off spot on the ground that was covered in rocks. Kicking them away, there was a phrase that read “Knock the two letter abbreviation”. Chaewon tilted her head in amusement. It’s been a long time since she had to use something like that and hoped she was right as she gave the door three quick knocks and then another knock followed by one with a pause, and ending with two more quick knocks. 

Chaewon waited, hoping the morse code for “SL”, short for Silver Lining, worked, and it did as she smiled to herself seeing a piece of paper being slipped out from underneath the door of the restaurant. She picked it up and unfolded the paper to see a number code. Ripping it up, she placed the paper into her pocket.

“Whoever this distributor is, they’re careful,” Chaewon said quietly through the comms and punched in the 6 digit code that connected her to the distributor. “They must only be selling to people who already know their way around.” Checking everyone’s location, she took note that Yerim’s car wasn’t in the same spot. “What’s going on, Yerim?”

“We’re just circling after seeing people. Just let us know when you’re done and I’ll get to you at a closer place.”

“It’s taking me to a game store just outside of the mall.” Chaewon followed the arrows in her augmented reality to the location the code gave her. It wasn’t far from where she just was as she started to jog. 

Using a numbered code that pinned the location of a person rather than an exact address gave distributors the freedom to roam around or the ability to cut off connection with a buyer if they needed to, making it a safer option.

“Keep your distance, I’m near.” Chaewon placed her gun back in her waistband as she approached with her hands up at the entrance of the game shop. “I’m looking to buy,” she called out to nobody, but she knew they were there with the map telling her so.

“How many?” She heard a robotic sounding voice coming from the shop. 

“Four,” Chaewon answered. There was an alert on her wrist that indicated the total price of the inhalers. “I pay half, you give me two, and then I pay the rest, and you hand the other two over.” She had to be careful, not wanting to get scammed.

Chaewon looked at her wrist again to see the price cutting in half as she pressed accept. Out came two inhalers from a slot at the door. She took it and pocketed it before confirming the second half of the payment and two more inhalers came out.

“Nice doing business with you.” Chaewon did the little Hyunjin salute and walked away from the store.

“Give me a second to turn around.” She heard Yerim say. “Actually, head towards the other mall entrance. These things are such pests.” A loud bang came from the other line. “Don’t worry, that’s just me running over one of those crazies.”

Chaewon shook her head and ran back to Hyejoo and Jinsol.

“That was a lot of steps,” Jinsol commented as her sister reached them.

“It’s usually isn’t that many, but with how things are.” Chaewon shrugged.

“You guys are going to have to hurry or else I’m going to have to circle around again,” Yerim spoke.

They started to run towards the noise when Yerim’s car came into view. 

The purple haired girl stopped abruptly, and turned around in her seat to open the back door. “Hurry!” She shouted as she took a glance behind.

They all ran through one way and Yerim stepped on the accelerator right as Hyejoo hopped in and closed the door. 

“Everyone okay?” Hyunjin asked, looking each member over to make sure they weren’t hurt. She got nods and sat back in her seat.

“That wasn’t too bad.” Yerim took a sharp turn, trying to lose the sprinters that were behind their car. “The others should probably be back at the library soon.”

~

“I think this grocery store has more security than your shop,” Sooyoung mumbled to Vivi as they entered.

A small spider like robot was following them around, probably to make sure they weren’t stealing or causing a scene.

“Never thought you’d have to be carrying a gun around.” Haseul nodded her head towards the weapon Yeojin had in a holster.

“I’m not a kid anymore.” Yeojin picked out a few cans of food without looking at her sister.

Haseul sighed. “I didn’t say you were.” She reached out to gently place a hand on Yeojin’s arm. “Look, I know you’re mad at me and you have every reason to be, but I really am sorry okay? I should have been home more often instead of having you stay over at Vivi’s or whoever’s.”

Yeojin placed the cans in the basket Haseul was holding and finally looked up to her. “I’m not mad. I’m just, I’m more annoyed that you ran away instead of coming to me to talk like you used to. I know you weren’t gone just because of work. I’m not stupid.”

Haseul bit her lip and tried to find the right words to say. “I was just dealing with a lot of stuff.”

“We were all dealing with a lot of stuff,” Yeojin raised her voice. “Even if you couldn’t talk to me, you have friends, friends who worried about you way more than they liked to talk about.”

It wasn’t often that Yeojin spoke to her like that. Her sister was more like the carefree type that joked around a lot, but since she came back, things have been different.

“You know, Chaewon tells me that Jinsol has her police scanner on every day. She’s scared you’d do something stupid and get yourself killed, and none of us would even know about it,” Yeojin’s spoke in a shaky tone.

It would be a lie if Haseul denied that she never did risky things, dangerous things that could have gotten her seriously injured or killed. There were times where she would forget about her responsibilities and all the people that loved her. She wanted to forget everything. She wanted to feel something.

“I shouldn’t have left,” Haseul simply said.

Yeojin shook her head. “Too late for that. At least you’re here now right?” She let out an exhale. “Look, Unnie, I’m not saying these things to make you feel bad. I’m just saying to let you know that although you think you’re alone, we’re all here for you.”

“It’s been a long time since you’ve called me Unnie.” Haseul couldn’t help the little smile that appeared on her face. “And I know Yeojin.” She rubbed the smaller girl’s arm before placing her own over Yeojin’s shoulder. She knew she had friends that were basically her family now that cared for her, but she’s been distancing herself so much that it was hard to talk to them again.

In a world where nothing made sense, it was uncommon for anyone to use formalities with each other anymore unless working in a professional setting. The term “unnie” was something Haseul thought she’d never hear again, and it made her want to cry knowing that Yeojin didn’t hate her.

“Are you and Jiwoo okay?” They heard Sooyoung say over the phone a little ahead of them.

“Yeah, we’re fine. There’s not much information, but an announcement to not worry and that security is working to rid of unwelcome guests,” Jungeun voice came through.

“There’s been a lockdown at the hotel,” Sooyoung spoke away from the phone to the rest of the group. “There’s no ins or outs for the time being and everyone has to stay in their rooms,” she informed them. Sooyoung switched the phone over to the other ear. “I’m going to come get you guys.”

“I called you to let you know what’s going on, not to rescue us. It’s only been a few minutes, so this could blow over soon for all we know.” Sooyoung could hear Jungeun talk to Jiwoo before the other line went silent.

“Jungeun?” Sooyoung called out.

“The lights just went out. The back up lights kicked in,” Jungeun spoke calmly. “Yeah, security here is great, but how amazing is it actually? Anyone is prone to weaknesses within their system.”

“Just stay put.” Sooyoung motioned for the members to check out at the cash register. She then spoke into the phone again. “We’ll come there soon. Call me if there are updates, okay? And if you can, ask IU for another burner? Having just two kind of sucks.” She didn’t think they’d be split up in three groups, but now that they were, she regretted not getting another phone.

“If I can get in contact with her. Doubt she wants to talk right now, but yeah, stay safe.”

“You too.” Sooyoung hung up the phone and pocketed it. “We gotta go get Jungeun and Jiwoo.”

“We’re supposed to meet back at the library,” Heejin pointed out their original plan.

“Something’s going on. The main lights were turned off, which means, someone’s trying to break through their security at the hotel.” Sooyoung crossed her arms, watching as Haseul and Vivi quickly packed the food in bags.

“What about the others? If we’re gone for long,” Heejin’s voice trailed, worried that their group of friends that went to get the inhalers will be in the dark of what was going on.

“We can’t even fit Jungeun and Jiwoo in the car even if we went to go get them,” Haseul added on, agreeing with Heejin.

Sooyoung thought for a moment but eventually agreed. “Fine. We have to go back for the inhalers anyways.” Walking towards the exit, she turned around to toss the keys over to Haseul. “But you drive. I need to keep in contact with them in case something happens.”

Haseul nodded, hoping her other friends could stay safe while they headed back to their current temporary base.

Sooyoung got in the back seat with Heejin and Yeojin, knowing she’d be too distracted to help Haseul in the front if a situation came up. She took out the burner phone and called Jungeun again. “Hey, we’re going to have to meet up with the others first since they don’t know what’s going on,” she explained.

“It’s better if you guys just stay there or at least come here at a distance. We can get out on our own if we need to, but right now, there’s not enough information to know how dangerous the situation is.”

“Exactly why I should come get you,” Sooyoung argued back.

“Having you guys coming here gun blazing probably isn’t exactly the best idea.”

“We can be subtle too, you know.”

“Yeah, knowing you and Vivi, the bigger scene you make, the better.”

Sooyoung couldn’t help but slightly smile at that. “Oh, come on. Vivi and I could be on our best behavior if that’s what you want.”

Vivi turned around in her seat, eyebrows raised.

Sooyoung pulled the phone from her ear to talk to the pink haired woman. “Jungeun thinks we’re gonna enter all dramatically.”

“Well, is she wrong?” Vivi had on a smirk and raised her mechanical arm, watching as some of the parts spun and clicked into place.

“Do I really have to babysit you two?” Haseul asked, looking through the rear view mirror.

“As if you weren’t just as bad before joining the protectorates,” Vivi scoffed.

“I have no comment,” Haseul said, making a turn into the school.

“You all teach us self defense and how to be safe, yet you’re the ones that are the most reckless,” Heejin stated, being so used to the older members talk like that.

Vivi turned around in her seat again. “Oh, we’re not reckless, love. We’re just chaotic energy that can destroy things in a spectacular fashion.”

Heejin rolled her eyes at the oldest member.

“Once you’re trained more, you can do what you like too, but right now, play it safe, please?” Vivi said seriously this time.

“Yeah, I know.” Heejin looked out the window, wondering if all the training she’s been through would translate into the real world. Sparring in a gym and weapons training at a warehouse was very different than actually having to hurt someone in real life.

“Maybe I should talk to Chaewon about that,” Vivi mumbled.

Haseul glanced over. “Has she been getting too ahead of herself?”

“No.” Vivi scrunched her eyebrows. “No, I guess it’s just hard for me to see the younger ones use their skills, taking out people, when all I want to do is keep them behind my back to protect them.” She thought back to the small convenience store they had gone to where Chaewon had killed her very first person. She almost forgot about it, but thinking back, she should have talked to Chaewon about it. First kills are never easy no matter how prepared a person is.

“I get what you mean.” Haseul looked in the rear view mirror again to see Yeojin against Sooyoung, who had her arm lazily over the shoulder of the smaller girl as she talked on the phone. She couldn’t be more thankful for her friends who looked after her sister as if she was their own sibling.

Haseul parked the car where it was hidden from most views. Getting out, she went to the trunk to get the grocery bags along with her rifle.

“Wait what?” Sooyoung exclaimed a bit loud, stopping in her tracks as the others walked to the school. She made a gesture to Haseul and walked back to the car. “Give me the keys.”

“What? No.” Haseul pocketed the keys, handing the bags over to Yeojin. “What’s going on?”

Sooyoung ignored her and continued talking on the phone. “Tell her not to go anywhere. Put her on the phone right now.”

“Sooyoung, let’s just go back into some shelter before we’re just easy targets.” Haseul went over and placed a hand on the taller woman’s arm.

Sooyoung cared too much about her friends to be irrational and listened as they walked quickly. “How much time?” She asked Jungeun. “For fuck’s sake, you said there were no ins or outs, so how is she going to go out?”

Vivi opened the door, warning members about tripping their trap and made their way to the library. She let out a sigh of relief to see their other members already there, sitting around the back of the room.

Sooyoung glanced around the room to make sure everyone was there. “Okay, good, we’re all here, and now I need two people to come with me to go to the hotel. Can’t be the Triplets, because guess what? The bounty is now an open contract for 10 million dollars,” she announced with bitterness in her voice.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, this is a twitter interactive au over at @loonachoz for those who want to participate in the votings.


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